Melvin Davis - His Story by Rob Moss

"Melvin Davis - His Story by Rob Moss"

Around 2004 I was running a website for Melvin Davis . It was set up to promote his short Uk tour and also a cd that had been released by Hayley Records. Am sure that anyone who met him and his son when they were over would agree with me when I say that he is a great genuine guy. So when Rob Moss asked if wanted to use the sleeve notes for this section it was a no brainer.

The sleeve notes are from the cd entitled Melvin Davis - His Greatest Recordings and though released in 2004 I think it is still available, either via the usual outlets or indeed thru the Hayley website.

Also featured is a radio interview that is up in the refosoul radio section (see end for link), from the same Uk visit, it features both Melvin and his son being interviewed by Dean Anderson on his Boundary Sound Radio show.and is well worth a listen.

The latest news on Melvin from Rob W, is that he may be visiting these shores again soon, and recently had some good news as a cover version of "Chains of Love " was featured in an award winning film, which should mean that some well deserved royalties will be winging their way to both Melvin and also JJ Barnes.

Anyway back to the main thrust, here's the sleeve notes from the cd from Rob Moss which as you can read the depth and background do justify renaming from "sleeve notes" to the Melvin Davis - His Story...

Melvin Davis - His Story By Rob Moss

Melvin Davis is one of the most gifted individuals to emerge from the Detroit music scene of the early 1960’s. His talents are prestigious, encompassing almost every aspect of the recording and performing process, and directly contributing to the wealth of material that came out of the city in the last five decades. From his first recording for the tiny Jackpot label in 1961, as a teenager, to the latest collection ‘Melvin Davis – His Greatest Recordings’, the quality and consistency of Melvin Davis’ music is of the very highest standard.

Melvin Davis was part of a generation of Detroit musicians and performers who made an indelible impression on the development of music in America, throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, and well into the new millennium. Like many of his contemporaries, Davis grew up steeped in the jazz, blues and R&B stylings that the city had become famous for in the 1940s and 1950s. By 1960 several local artists had gained national prominence, among them Jackie Wilson and Marv Johnson, and Berry Gordy's fledgling Motown set up was beginning to establish itself as a successful and lucrative operation. Many local entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to emulate Gordy's success, and scores of small record labels emerged, eager to audition and record the huge pool of musical talent that abounded. Melvin Davis’ love for music grew and developed throughout his childhood and early adolescence – by his late teens the natural talent he possessed had been transformed into a tangible musical output. “I always had my own band, even from the early days. There were lots of guys who wanted to perform when we were young. Not all of them could cut it though.” Davis recalled in a 2003 interview.

As the leader of his own musical group, The Jaywalkers, he had not only mastered keyboards and guitar, but had become something of a principal on his preferred instrument, the drums. The line up of The Jaywalkers gives a fascinating insight into the depth of talent that existed in Detroit at that time – Leroy Emmanuel, Cornelius Grant (who would late become The Temptations’ musical director), Clyde Wilson ( Steve Mancha), Tony Newton (latterly a Motown staff bassist and 8th Day member) and vocalist David Ruffin would all treasure the invaluable experience they gained in the group during those early days. “We had so much fun back then. We would squeeze all of us and all of our instruments into my station wagon and we’d go and play somewhere. In town or around the State. We would play all over.” Enduring friendships were developed as The Jaywalkers played at almost every ski lodge, local dance hall and college campus throughout rural and urban Michigan, particularly between Davis, Wilson and Ruffin. “They used to call us the ‘Three Amigos’ ‘cause we were so tight. We did everything together. We used to share the driving but had to ban David in the end. He was a crazy driver. Two separate times he drove into a snow bank!”

Melvin Davis began his recording career at the tiny Jackpot label on the east side of the city in late 1961, with a self penned song called “About love”, on which he also played keyboards. “ I always believed in myself and knew I could write songs. It was way different to performing ‘live’ but I needed to gain experience in the studio.” Undeterred by the record’s lack of success, he tried again the following year at the famed Fortune label with a Devora Brown song called “Playboy (don’t you play in school)” backed with another of his own compositions “I won’t be your fool”, but again failed to make any significant impact on the local chart. The recording experience he received at this time was crucial to his musical development because, along with playing ‘live’, it allowed him to nurture his real passions - songwriting and singing.

1963 heralded a particularly significant chapter in Melvin Davis’ career, when he collaborated with two of Detroit’s most innovative and mercurial musical characters – Dave Hamilton and Mike Hanks.” Mike Hanks liked me from the get go. I think he was impressed that I always had a car, and that I had a band too.” Hamilton was the musical director at Stanford Givon’s KE KE label when Davis auditioned, and assisted him on his only release for the label, the self penned “Wedding Bells” backed with Hamilton’s “It’s no news”. Sadly the label was wound up after only two releases (the other was Juanita Williams “That handsome guy”) but it gave Davis invaluable production experience under Dave Hamilton’s guidance, and exposed him to some of the city’s finest session musicians - people Davis would later employ on his own productions. “Dave Hamilton had been around a while and knew what he was doing. He had been a guitar and vibes player at Motown and could write, arrange and produce too.”

Mike Hanks was a ‘no nonsense’ character who spoke his mind, loved his music with a hard edged R&B flavour, hated Berry Gordy and always carried two loaded revolvers (with permits)! “Mike thought Motown was too commercial and kinda wimpy. He didn’t think it was ‘real’ black music. I remember that he was going to set up as an alternative to Motown. He had leased a house two doors down from the Hitsville studio, on the same side of Grand Boulevard, and was going to set a studio up there. He had actually paid the first two months payment and was about to move in when … I figure Berry Gordy must have got wind of it …the house was purchased by Motown. I think Mike only did it to piss off Gordy.”His group of labels, including D-Town, MAH’S, Wheelsville, USD and Wheel City, provided exposure and opportunity to many of the local acts not considered ‘commercial’ enough for Motown. Melvin Davis’ only collaboration with Mike Hanks is considered by many to be one of his very best. “Find a quiet place (and be lonely)” was conceived, written and performed in Hanks’ infamous ‘Pig Pen’ studio over a two-day period. To call it a ‘studio’ is misleading – it was, in fact, a five-roomed house on McGraw and Grand River that Hanks had ‘converted’. “ He made the bedroom into an office, the living and dining areas was the recording area, the kitchen contained the control booth and the bathroom became an echo chamber. We got a good sound there too you know. It was fun making that record.” It was released on the Wheel City label in 1964 as a limited run of between 300-500 copies, and was not re pressed. Although Davis did not record with Hanks again, their relationship remained strong and both men retained a mutual respect for each other. “ Yeah, I always liked Mike Hanks. He was a straight talking guy and you knew where you stood with him. If he liked you he would do anything to help you. I was sad when he was shot outside of the Twenty Grand. But he did have a temper.”

By 1965, Melvin Davis’ enhanced reputation as a songsmith had enabled him to become a freelance writer, and he was frequently engaged to write for specific artists or producers. “I’m gonna love you” and “Call me” for Edward Hamilton, “You’ve got to help me” for Clifford Binns at Lou Beatty’s La Beat set up, “Lonely you’ll be” and “It won’t matter at all” for Johnnie Mae Matthews, and “Chains of love” and “I’m the one who loves you” for Don Davis at Groovesville, are but a few examples of his craft, and clearly show the quality of his talent. “ I began to get a good reputation and that made it easy to take my songs in to different producers or owners.” Thankfully, he frequently recorded many of his own songs to assist in the accuracy of delivery, and would always supervise the making of the backing tracks. “ It was so easy working with the musicians we had back then, Jamerson, Eddie Willis, ‘Pistol’, Earl and them , ‘cause I knew them and they picked things up real easy anyway. I’d show them the chord patterns and where the change ups were and they would do the rest. Once we got the rhythm tracks down it was just a matter of adding on the vocals, horns strings or whatever.” In the case of Jackie Beavers “I need my baby” he not only wrote the song, played drums on the session, but financed the recording at Speciality too. Davis had always maintained a close working and personal relationship with Clyde (Steve Mancha) Wilson, since their days together in i must love you -melvin The Jaywalkers, and this was revived at the Groovesville label. Besides co writing Mancha’s “Monday through Thursday”, they sang together on “I need my baby” and “I won’t love you and leave you”, both Davis compositions that were never released commercially. “ Clyde and I worked well together. We really understood each other, and he was my buddy.” Among Melvin Davis’ finest songs during this period, are two that he recorded himself, “I must love you”, which was recorded at the same session as “I won’t love you and leave you” at Golden World on Davison, and Mancha’s “Still in my heart”. It is perhaps ironic that Steve Mancha himself and David Ruffin both recorded the latter too – a throwback to their old days on the road perhaps? “We were all together (me, Clyde and David) late one night over at Golden World working on that song. We had the track down already, and David tried himself on it. There was no way it would ever have been released. He was tied to Motown.”

Live performance work had always been important to Melvin Davis, be it singing himself or playing drums on the road with many of the Motown acts. He was first hired as a staff drummer with the company in 1964, when he toured with The Temptations, and later accompanied the Four Tops, Martha & Vandellas, the Originals, the Supremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. On rare occasions he would even play on recording sessions, the most notable being Smokey’s “Tears of a clown” which featured his highly unique drum patterns and ‘pick ups’. ”Yeah, I did a few things there. I was on the road with Smokey and the guys when they went in to record that song. It was easier to use me than get one of the other drummers (‘Pistol’ or Uriel) in just for one tune.Time was tight too.” In early 1966 Davis became the featured vocalist with the Lyman Woodard Trio, a local jazz and R&B ensemble, on a full time basis – an engagement that would ultimately last until the end of 1967, and would bring him into contact with guitarist Denis Coffey. Coffey and Mike Theodore had formed Theo-Coff Productions in 1966, and approached Davis to write several songs for an artist they intended to produce for the Mala label. He wrote two songs, “This love was meant to be” and “Save it (Never Too Late)” initially, but the artist couldn’t sing them to required standard, so Davis performed them himself, and was consequently signed to Mala as an artist. He wrote two more songs for the follow up single, “Love bug got a bear hug” and “Faith”, before ending his association with the Theo-Coff in 1967. Several notable songs also emerged at this time, including “That’s the way he is” for Ann Perry and “Stop (don’t worry about it)” for Lonnette (McKee) and his ‘live’ work continued unabated.

Melvin Davis’ next foray into the recording world began in 1968, after a call from an old friend, and led to him singing several of the biggest commercial hits of his career. Ronnie Dunbar had been around the Detroit music scene since the early 1960s, and had met Davis during the days with Mike Hanks, where they had both recorded for him. As Ronnie Love, Dunbar had recorded just one single for D-Town, but as the 1960s progressed, his reputation as a songwriter, arranger and producer was enhanced to the point that he came to the attention of the legendary Holland/Dozier/Holland writing team, who were setting up their own Invictus and Hot Wax labels, having recently left Motown. As a staff producer, Dunbar worked with several local writers, including Steve Mancha, to produce a number of songs intended for future release. Several of the songs were sung by Mancha himself, but the rest were given to Melvin Davis, who was only paid to sing them on an ad hoc basis, not signed as an artist. Davis’ vocal performances on songs like “I’m worried”, “Just as long” and “I can’t fool myself” to name a few, are some of his finest ever. “That was a weird situation. I got paid $100 for each song and thought they were just scratch vocals so that Dunbar could shop the songs around.eight day Then they put one of them out and it takes off.”When the first of these songs “She’s not just another woman” was released three years later in 1971, it was credited to The 8th Day, a group that did not actually exist. It was, in fact, Steve Mancha, who could not be identified because he was already the lead vocalist for another group on the label, 100 Proof Aged in Soul. When the record became a hit on both R&B and pop charts, it became clear that a follow up single, and an album, was needed. Invictus had recorded enough material with Melvin Davis though, and it was two of these songs, “You’ve got to crawl (before you walk)” and “Eeeny –Meeny- Miny – Mo ( Three’s A Crowd)” that became the next hits. An album was subsequently released by The 8th Day, which contained seven songs sung by Davis, and two by Mancha, but with no personnel to perform ‘live’ or undertake promotional duties. Ronnie Dunbar and bassist Tony Newton decided to create a group in a similar mold to Sly and the Family Stone, who were very popular at the time, and auditioned in California. ”They went down to California and auditioned all these people before settling on a line up they were happy with. But it just didn’t work. They were all from different musical backgrounds and didn’t work like I was used to. That tour was a disaster. The album was all different styles too – a couple of my songs but all this other weird stuff. It bombed.

Six new members were recruited and, with Newton and Davis, became The 8th Day who recorded a second album and began a tour of the U.S. Neither went well, with the result that Melvin Davis eventually quit the group and signed as a single artist, writer and producer with the company. His final solo effort, the exquisite “You made me over” was undoubtedly his best for Invictus, but after the 8th Day debacle and continual financial wrangles with company executives, Davis quit for good not long afterwards. “I never got my proper dues for any of that Invictus stuff. Most artists get screwed by record companies and I certainly got screwed then.”

By 1974 Melvin Davis had become disillusioned and resentful towards the industry he had worked in for the past two decades. His frustration was mainly directed at record labels and the way they treated artists – stifling creativity, not promoting records, restricting artistic development, and most importantly, not paying adequately, if at all. He reserved a special contempt for Invictus, who had made a great deal of money out of his talent, but, to this day, have never properly compensated him. Davis knew that the only sensible course of action open to him was to start his own label if he wanted to assume artistic, creative and financial control of his own destiny. “I knew enough about the business at that time and figured I could do it myself. I couldn’t screw myself after all.” The Rock Mill label began operations in the summer of 1974 with the debut of the self penned “Double or nothing” by Mel Davis, and flourished throughout the 1970s and 1980s with further releases by Charisma, Liz Taylor, Davis himself, and Tim Murray (on the subsidiary Detroit Traks label). “Tim Murray and I used to go to the racetrack together. We had been working on ‘Thinking of you’ and were going through it together while we were watching the races, singing lines and so on. This lady must have overheard us ‘cause she came up to us and yold us that she could sing. We listened to her and were both quite impressed. It was Liz Taylor. She cut a couple of songs for me after that.” Some of Davis’ finest songs gained release on Rock Mill, particularly the uplifting “Roots of disco” and the beautiful “Saving myself for you” in 1978, and “Let love into your life” a year later. “Thinking of you” was co- written at the first meeting Davis ever had with Tim Murray, and was subsequently recorded by both of them, though only Murray’s version gained an official release. Davis’ version eventually saw the light of day in the 1990s on a Japanese cd “Love Truth and Victory” which featured all of his Rock Mill songs.

Melvin Davis’ talent continues to shine as brightly as ever and his ability to adapt, and change,melvin davis and son with the musical times is ably demonstrated on his most recent Rock Mill release, “Git u some business” from 2002. The cd is remarkable for a variety of reasons. Not only does Davis write and perform several of the songs with legendary Detroit diva, Pat Lewis, but his son, Powerdise, contributes a cutting edge ‘hip hop’ dimension to the project. In addition, his old buddy Clyde Wilson contributes to the backing music – reminiscent of their first experience all those years ago with The Jaywalkers. The highlight of the cd is undoubtedly Davis’ tribute to mothers everywhere, “You’ve always been there for me” which he wrote with Pat Lewis. Sadly, Lewis’ own mother passed away during the writing and recording of the song, which gives it a special poignancy.

In 2004 a collection of Melvin Davis’ songs was released on the Rock Mill cd ‘MELVIN DAVIS – His Greatest Recordings’ by Hayley Records in UK. The 19 track album includes many of his finest 60’s songs, the Mala sides, some of the 8th Day material and the best Rock Mill recordings.

Rob Moss

http://www,hayleyrecords.co.uk

As said you can listen to a great interview by Dean Anderson originally broadcast via Boundary Sound FM

Listen here

thanks to Rob for yet another bit of quality reading