Freedom Underground was born in 2003, starting primarily as a blues and R&B group. In 2004, the members decided to radically change direction after losing one of the founding members who also happened to be the lead vocalist.

Within the confines of one rehearsal, the Detroit-based band made the decision to jump tracks to the creation of original music; jazz, fusion, funk, and whatever else happened to sound good

Freedom Underground because sometimes that’s where you have to go to find the straight truth of who, what, and why you are. And the truth, as they say, shall set you free.

Cornelius Fortune (trumpet, keyboards), a Detroit native, studied classical composition with Karl Boelter, and jazz theory with saxophonist Rodney Bonner (an early mentor to Kenny Garrett). A native Detroiter, Fortune has composed/performed music for several independent and student films. He joined the group in 2006.

Cody Morales (drums, vocals) perhaps the band’s most versatile multi-instrumentalist, hails from Austin, Texas. Morales has been performing professionally since his teen years and is equally comfortable with anything from hip-hop to fusion to rock. He also serves as Freedom’s studio engineer, graphic artist, and all-around creative muse. Morales is also the bass player for the extremely popular Detroit pop rock band Kaleido.

Randy Streicher (bass), a Detroit native, has performed on the road with a number of R&B and pop/rock groups for more than 34 years. Randy is a classically trained musician, starting out on trumpet in 3rd grade, adding bass in high school. He began playing weddings at 16, switching to local cover bands in his 20's. Randy has toured in five different states with two different bands, paid his way through college as a full time musician, and has played in a variety of groups in almost every genre from rock, R&B, and Top 40, to funk, Southern rock, and jazz.

Keith Owens (guitar, vocals), a native of Denver, Colorado, has been playing professionally for 20 years. Owens earned his blues “chops” playing the Southside clubs and ‘joints’of Chicago during the mid-‘80s. Since being in Detroit, Owens has played with Luther “Bad Man” Keith, Joc’lyn B, Harmonica Shaw, Priscilla Price, the Butler Twins, Kenny Miller, and other local blues artists. For three years, from 1995-1998, he fronted his own group, “Blue Spirit Tribe."

Billy Furman (saxophones, flutes, harmonica) was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, then moved to California at age 10, started music at age 12, joined a rock-surf band called the Bel-Airs at age 15, and played the Hollywood Bowl promoting their record Mr. Moto. Billy played in numerous bands in the Hollywood area before moving to Detroit in 2000 where he met Keith Owens and joined his band The Family. Since then he has branched out to play with many other Detroit bands.

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