Phil Upchurch, who played guitar with Donny Hathaway, has died at the age of 84

Phil Upchurch, a popular session musician who played guitar on recordings by artists such as Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway and George Benson, died Nov. 23 in Los Angeles. He was 84 years old.

His death was confirmed by his wife, Sonya Maddox Upchurch, who did not specify the cause or say where in LA he died.

Among the classic songs Upchurch helped create in the studio were Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” which topped the Billboard R&B chart for three weeks in 1978, and “Workin’ Day and Night” from Jackson’s 1979 hit single “Off the Wall.” He also played on Hathaway’s holiday original “This Christmas” and on 1972’s “Live” (which was recorded at the Troubadour) and on two versions of the instrumental “Brazen”: Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo’s 1971 recording that introduced the song, a song by Bondmake and Bondmake. 1976, which helped propel Benson’s album of the same title to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Upchurch was born on July 19, 1941 in Chicago and started playing music professionally at the age of 16. Jimmy Smith, the jazz arranger, was an early inspiration, he told The Times in 1996; Smith’s albums, he said, were his “bibles.” In 1961, Upchurch scored a hit under his own name with “You Can’t Sit Down,” an organ-driven number that later reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in a single by the Doyles. In 1963, Upchurch played on a proto-rap spoken word LP by Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, “I’m the Greatest!”

Upchurch served two years in the US Army in Germany in the mid-60s; When he returned, he quickly became a fixture at Chicago’s Chess Records, where he worked in sessions with the likes of Ramsey Lewis, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and made several of his recordings with Hathaway as a member of his studio band.

In the 70s he played on Mayfield’s soundtracks for the films Superfly and Sparkle, the latter of which also featured Aretha Franklin. Among the many other acts that Upchurch has performed with or recorded with are The Staples Singers, Natalie Cole, Manny Rapperton, Bob Dylan, Anita Baker and Dr. John.