Photojournalist Alex Atwell brings us the story about, Detroit's soul ambassador Melvin Davis has written over 600 songs and played with legends of the music industry.
Saturday April 22, 2017 Melvin Davis & Rockmill Rhythm and Blues Band will be performing live at the Marble Bar, 1501 Holden St, Detroit, MI starting at 8:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Some background on Melvin Davis from Billboard:
Melvin Davis never scored the crossover hit that would have made him a star, but few artists on Detroit's soul music scene had a more impressive résumé than Davis, a singer, songwriter, drummer, and bandleader who worked with everyone from Smokey Robinson and David Ruffin to Wayne Kramer and Dennis Coffey. Davis was born on August 29, 1942, and as a child, his family moved back and forth between Detroit and Milledgeville, Georgia, where his grandparents had a farm.
As a boy, he developed a passion for music, seeing Little Richard perform at a juke joint near the family farm and hearing Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers at a church potluck dinner. At the age of 17, Davis joined the Navy and in his spare time began teaching himself to play the piano and guitar and started writing songs. In 1961, he released his first record, "I Don't Want You" b/w "About Love," on the local Jack Pot label, and his next single, "Playboy" b/w "I Won't Be Your Fool," was issued by the fabled Fortune Records, home of such local legends as Andre Williams, Nolan Strong, and Nathaniel Mayer.
While Davis had already established himself as a powerful vocalist and skilled pianist, he also took up the drums and landed a regular gig at the Ebony Club in Muskegon, Michigan with his band the Jaywalkers, which included a promising young singer named David Ruffin. The Jaywalkers played regularly all over Michigan and cut a session for Fortune, but it was never released, and Davis' next record, "Wedding Bells" b/w "It's No News," appeared on the short-lived Ke Ke label.