The Ol' Gangsta
1950 my family moved to Detriot, MI. I really never thought about singing myself, I attended Northern High School and while in school, we formed a little doo-wop corner group. I was pushed into a singing group called The Scalders and won the first Talent Contest ever held at Northern High School. I formed another singing group and then did a two-year tour in the U.S Army and formed a group called the Barberleers.
In the mid 1950’s I joined the Falcons singing group with the late
great Joe Stubs, the late great (Wicked) Wilson Pickett, Willie Scholfield,
Lance Finney and the enormously successful Eddie Floyd (of “Knock
On Wood” fame).
Out of that fantastic group came two smash hits on
the Falcons, “You’re so Fine” and “I Found a Love”.
This was the first group out of Detroit to appear on the Dick Clark Show.
But, for my “claim to fame”, “Mustang Sally” was
the one song that really started the ball rolling.
I was blessed to join the STAX Record Company in Memphis, Tennessee and out of that mixture, I wrote “Respect Yourself” recorded by the Staple Singers and later by Bruce Willis and others, “Cheaper To Keep Her” recorded by the late Johnny Taylor, “Do The Breakdown” recorded by my main man, the late great Rufus Thomas and the last but not least “Cadillac Assembly Line” recorded by the late Mr. Albert King.