The group that changed the dance scene
The Lockers
From The Campbellockers to one of street dance’s most influential groups.
The Lockers took a dance that had grown in the social spaces of Los Angeles and made it visible on television, stages and throughout popular culture. The group was not the beginning of the entire story of Locking, but it became a decisive force in how the dance was presented to a wider audience.
Creator / Founder
Don “Campbellock” Campbell
Don Campbell created The Campbellock – the dance that later became known around the world as Locking. It grew from his individual movement, musicality and the stops or “locks” that became the foundation of the style.
Don initiated the group and was its central creative force. He began gathering dancers around his style and laid the foundation for The Campbellockers. Together with Toni Basil, the group developed into a professional stage ensemble in 1973 before its name was shortened to The Lockers.
The group’s history therefore cannot be separated from Don: first came his personal dance, followed by the people who developed, shaped and carried it forward together.
1969–1972
The road to The Campbellockers
Don Campbell developed his distinctive dance at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in late 1969. The movement and style became known as The Campbellock. As Don joined the Soul Train scene and recorded “The Campbellock” in 1972, the possibility of presenting the dance through a group also grew.
Don Campbell’s own timeline also records tours with different dancers around the release of the song. These early performances were a precursor to the group that would soon take shape as The Campbellockers.
June 1973
The Campbellockers are formed
Together with choreographer and manager Toni Basil, dancers were assembled for an ABC television special featuring Roberta Flack. The group first appeared as The Campbell-Lockers in printed material and was announced in performances as The Campbellockers.
The lineup changed during the first performances. The Lockers’ own history emphasizes that the later established group of seven did not yet appear together in full during the first programs as The Campbellockers.
October 1973
The Campbellockers become The Lockers
Following a rights dispute concerning the word Campbellock, the group name was shortened from The Campbellockers to The Lockers. The new name retained a connection to Don Campbell and the dance’s origin while allowing the group to continue its professional work.
The Lockers’ own history dates the official name change to October 23, 1973. On November 23, the seven original members performed together under the name The Lockers on ABC’s In Concert.
The 1970s
From the street to the world stage
The Lockers combined powerful individual characters and improvisation with a carefully shaped stage act. Their clothing, humor, musical timing, poses, gestures and explosive movement created an immediately recognizable presentation.
The group appeared repeatedly on American television and performed on major stages. The Los Angeles Times later described them as the first street-dance troupe to achieve broad success. The group’s own documentation records more than one hundred television and live appearances during its first three years.
1976 onward
New lineups, the same legacy
The lineup changed after Fred Berry and Toni Basil left the group. Anthony “Tony GoGo” Lewis joined at the end of 1976 and performed with the five remaining members on Van Dyke and Company. Further configurations appeared under The Lockers name through the late 1970s and into the 1980s.
It is therefore important to distinguish between the seven people identified as original members by the group’s own history, later contracted members and the many other pioneers who contributed to Locking before, alongside and after the professional group.
Original seven
The seven original members
According to The Lockers’ own history and the statement endorsed by the original members and the Fred Berry estate in 2009:
- Don “Campbellock” Campbell
- Toni Basil
- Dave “Greg Campbellock Jr.” Pope
- Fred “Mr. Penguin / Rerun” Berry
- Leo “Fluky Luke” Williamson
- Bill “Slim the Robot” Williams
- Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones
Name / Credit / Context
The Fabulous Lockers
The group’s name was The Lockers, after first being known as The Campbellockers. The name “The Fabulous Lockers” also appears in some presentations and later contexts.
LockerLegends describes different lineups and reunions over the years being presented as The Original Lockers or The Fabulous Lockers. This page always uses The Lockers as the group’s primary name.
One group – and a larger movement
The Lockers played a decisive role in bringing Locking to the professional stage. At the same time, the language of the dance was created by a wider network of social dancers, Soul Train dancers, groups and local pioneers. Telling the group’s story means both giving The Lockers their rightful place and continuing to make the wider culture around them visible.