The Chicago group was dubbed "First Family of Soul" because of their successful five-year chart run; the moniker was later passed on to the Jackson 5.

[2] Initially a teenage five-member brothers and sister vocal group made up of the children of Betty and Clarence Burke, the Five Stairsteps, named by Mrs. Burke who thought her children looked like stair steps when lined up according to their age, featured lead singer Clarence Jr. (May 25, 1949 – May 26, 2013),[3] Alohe, James, Dennis, and 13-year-old Kenneth ("Keni").

[1] They signed to Mayfield's Windy City imprint, which was distributed by the Philadelphia-based Cameo Parkway record label, their first single was Fowler's ballad "You Waited Too Long" backed by "Don't Waste Your Time", a Mayfield-penned song.

Clarence Burke appeared as himself on the September 26, 1967, episode of the game show To Tell the Truth, receiving two of the four possible votes by the panel members.

Alohe left the group in 1972 to begin a spiritual journey, and went on to attend college, graduate and work at Emory University, where she was also a guest speaker.

Later in the 1970s, Billy Preston introduced the Stairsteps to the Beatles, and the group signed with George Harrison's Dark Horse label, distributed by A&M Records.

Becoming an in-demand session bass player, he contributed to recordings by Sly & the Family Stone, Natalie Cole, Billy Preston, Les McCann, the Emotions, Raffi and The Four Tops to Redman, Terry Callier, Stargard, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Linda Clifford, Silk, Narada Michael Walden, Ramsey Lewis, Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross and Gladys Knight.

He appeared as part of Bill Withers' band around this time and co-produced his album Menagerie, which included the hit single "Lovely Day".

The group's self-titled debut, produced by Masucci and Clarence Jr. and released in 1980 by Mango/Island Records, featured the heavily disco-styled hit "All Night Thing", which returned the Burke brothers to the top ten on the R&B chart.

The Invisible Man's Band released a final single, "Sunday Afternoon", on the Move 'N Groove record label, formed by Masucci and Clarence Jr. in 1983.

While the song only peaked at number 63 R&B in late summer 1982, it inspired the Mary Jane Girls' breakout hit the following year, "All Night Long".

The album also included one of the last songs by Philadelphia songwriter Linda Creed (co-written with Burke), the mid-tempo ballad "One Minute More".

Burke worked as a writer/producer (frequently with his former Invisible Man's Band colleagues keyboardist Dean Gant and drummer Steve Ferrone) with the O'Jays, the Jones Girls, the Whispers, Keith Sweat, George Howard, Peabo Bryson, Bill Withers, and Perri, among others.

After meeting Expansion Records executive Ralph Tee, Burke signed with the Sony distributed UK label.