Maggie formed The Hot City Bump Band with her husband Chicago-born Chuck McKinney. Chuck originally came to Australia to work in the original Australian production of the stage musical Hair ca. 1970 where he met Sydney-born Maggie during the run of the show. When Hair finally closed at the end of 1973, the McKinneys formed the band with four local musicians, including drummer Mick Holden (ex-The Mixtures) plus West Indian percussionist Robert Ellis.
Hot City Bump Band was one of Australia's first soul-funk bands, and they were one of only a handful of groups (Skylight, Stylus, Johnny Rocco Band) who performed in this style. As Ian McFarlane notes, local audiences who had been brought up "on a steady diet of rock, boogie and pop" took some time to get used to it. Although a number of local acts (Max Merritt, The Groove, The Groop) had championed soul and R&B music during the '60s, new black American music trends such as "The Philly Sound" -- spearheaded by producers Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and typified by groups such as The O'Jays -- came and went without gaining any significant Australian radio exposure. This was a direct result of the restrictive (and frankly racist) programming regimes on commercial radio, typified by Rod Muir's Digamae consultancy, which gained a stranglehold over Australian pop radio in the early Seventies. So, these new developments in black dance music and groundbreaking acts like Parliement-Funkadelic remained largely unheard in Australia until the arrival of Double Jay in Jan. 1975 and the eventual breakthrough of disco in 1976-77.
Guitarist-turned-producer Robie Porter was one of the few local label owners who was willing to take a punt on new soul-funk style. He had recently signed another former Hair cast member, Marcia Hines -- and he signed Hot City Bump Band signed to his Wizard label. They released two Singles during 1974 -- the first was a cover of The Beatles' Come Together, followed by Time Is On Your Side.
In mid-1975 the band issued its highly-regarded debut album, Come Together, which was produced by the great Ernie Rose. It included an impressive cover of the Jimmy Castor Bunch's It's Just Begun. The album was accompanied by their third single, Do What You Wanna Do, which sold strongly and peaked at #13 in Melbourne during August 1975. It charted for sixteen weeks and was subsequently included on the 1975 K-Tel hits compilation Outa Sight. They also made an appearance on Countdown on 31 August 1975, performing their hit. By then, Noel Davies had replaced original guitarist John Adolphus. It was sometime during this period that they relocated to Sydney.
They were by now recognised as one of the best live acts in the country and this led to several prestigious support gigs during 1975, including Osibisa, Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Temptations. Sadly, the group didn't continue long after that, announcing their break-up and issuing a final single, Ain't No Use in January 1976.
Chuck, Margaret and David Green formed a new group called City Strutt. After its demise, Maggie and David McMaster co-wrote and released a duet single called "Back to Where We Started" b/w "True Kind of Loving" in 1981.
Through the late Seventies and Eighties, Margaret was in regular demand as a session singer. Maggie's voice has been heard in innumerable advertisements. She frequently worked live, providing her distinctive backing vocals for many local artists including Marcia Hines and Renee Geyer.
Maggie formed her own group, The Maggie McKinney Band, and also performed in the Stevie Wright Band and the Jimmy Barnes Band (1985). During 1993 Margaret was tour manager for the pop band Girlfriend.
Maggie still performs today with her own band Footloose Strangers
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