Funky Buzzard Garvin

Dewayne “Funky Buzzard” Garvin (b. Indianapolis, c. 1946 – d. July 11, 2007, Scottsdale, Arizona) – Drummer. Dewayne Garvin came from a musical family, as his mother was Flo Garvin (a well-known vocalist in Indianapolis) and his father Millard Lee (B.B. King’s keyboardist for twenty-four years). In 1968, Garvin joined the Highlighters, an Indy funk band that originated earlier in the decade as a jazz group at Crispus Attucks High School. In 1969, the band had two big regional hits in “Poppin’ Corn” and “The Funky 16 Corners,” the latter being the title track of a compilation CD on Stones Throw in 2001. Also among the forgotten funk songs resurrected on the compilation was Garvin’s anthem “The Funky Buzzard,” an instrumental that he and fellow Highlighter James Bell recorded with James Bell and the Turner Brothers around 1970. In the 1970s, Garvin played in Indy with the Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign and Black Magic, which formed in 1973. While playing with Black Magic, he attracted the attention of an assistant to Marvin Gaye, who hired Garvin to be his tour drummer. He also had the opportunity to play with Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, and Earth, Wind and Fire. As for his nickname, James Bell of the Highlighters started calling him “Funky Buzzard” because of Garvin’s tendency to quickly swoop in and grab recently dumped females.