The group was formed in Ohio by New Jersey native horn player/songwriter/producer Steve Washington (funk obviously runs in the blood - Washington's uncle was Ralph 'Pee Wee' Middlebrook of the famed Ohio Players). Slave performed edgy funk grooves that rival (or even overwhelm) what is considered 'hard' street music today. By the time the Cotillion/Atlantic album Stone Jam, originally release in September 1980, came out, Steve Washington had departed the group, with Curt Jones and Starleana Young, to form another band, Aurra. Not long afterward, Steve Arrington (drummer and vocalist) also departed to undertake a solo career that produced important funk classics such as Way Out and Nobody Can Be You But You.