McMillen Park will be the scene of unparalleled funk and fun when two legendary R&B acts, the Ohio Players and the Gap Band Experience (featuring members of the Gap Band), take the stage to headline the annual Summer Comunity Celebration.

The Ohio Players got their start in 1959 in Dayton and achieved household name fame in the seventies with hits like “Fire,” “Pain,” “Funky Worm,” and “Love Rollercoaster.” During their time as one of the Buckeye State’s most celebrated soul acts, they put out sixteen studio albums, including the gold records Skin Tight, Fire, and Honey.

The Gap Band began as a trio of brothers. Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, natives of Tulsa, Oklahoma, achieved R&B superstar status with the release of their first three albums, aptly named The Gap Band, The Gap Band II, and The Gap Band III. The brothers didn’t stop there. They went on to put out eight Gap Band albums and see countless singles chart. Does “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” ring a bell? That’s the Gap Band. So is “Early in the Morning” and “Yearning for Your Love.”

Robert Wilson died of a heart attack in 2010, after which the Gap Band formally broke up. Since then, a number of the group’s original backing musicians have been performing the band’s greatest hits under the moniker the Gap Band Experience.

The Summer Community Celebration is free and open to all ages.