Biography
Although Melvin Davis never landed the breakout crossover success that might have elevated him to stardom, few figures on Detroit’s soul circuit assembled a résumé as distinguished as that of this multifaceted vocalist, composer, drummer, and ensemble director whose collaborations spanned Smokey Robinson and David Ruffin on one end and Wayne Kramer and Dennis Coffey on the other. Born August 29, 1942, Davis spent his early years shuttling between Detroit and Milledgeville, Georgia, where his grandparents maintained a farm. During childhood he cultivated a deep love for music, witnessing Little Richard at a juke joint near the farm and hearing Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers at a church potluck.
At seventeen he enlisted in the Navy, using free hours to master piano and guitar while beginning to pen original material. His debut single, “I Don’t Want You” b/w “About Love,” appeared in 1961 on the local Jack Pot label; the follow-up, “Playboy” b/w “I Won’t Be Your Fool,” came out on the storied Fortune Records, home to local luminaries Andre Williams, Nolan Strong, and Nathaniel Mayer. Having already proven himself a commanding singer and adept pianist, Davis next took up drums and secured steady work at Muskegon’s Ebony Club fronting his group the Jaywalkers, whose lineup included an up-and-coming vocalist named David Ruffin. The band performed widely across Michigan and recorded for Fortune, yet those tracks remained unreleased; Davis’s subsequent single, “Wedding Bells” b/w “It’s No News,” surfaced on the fleeting Ke Ke imprint.
He then aligned with Mike Hanks’s D-Town Records and cut “Find a Quiet Place (And Be Lonely)” for the Wheel City subsidiary in 1965; though the disc drew little attention at first, it later became a fixture at Northern Soul gatherings in the United Kingdom. By then Davis was gaining recognition as a songwriter, supplying material not only for his own releases but also for notable Detroit acts including J.J. Barnes (“Chains of Love”), Johnnie Mae Matthews (“Lonely You’ll Be”), Lonette McKee (“Stop, Don’t Worry About It”), and Jackey Beavers (“I Need My Baby”), with producer Don Davis regularly seeking his contributions.
In 1966, after Ruffin departed the Jaywalkers to join the vocal group the Distants—later celebrated as the Temptations—Davis assembled a trio with guitarist Dennis Coffey and keyboardist Lyman Woodard. The unit enjoyed a lengthy, successful residency at Detroit’s Frolic Show Bar and subsequently at Maury Baker’s Showplace Lounge. Coffey produced sessions that secured Davis a contract with Mala Records, yielding the regional hit “This Love Is Meant to Be” b/w “Save It (Never Too Late).” As soul and R&B acquired a harder, psychedelic edge toward the decade’s close, Coffey’s guitar approach kept pace; Davis supplied drums on the guitarist’s debut solo album Hair and Thangs, while Woodard’s keyboard explorations grew more adventurous, anchored by Davis’s drumming within the newly rechristened Lyman Woodard Organization.
In 1970 Davis joined Smokey Robinson’s touring band as drummer, spending two years on the road with the iconic artist and contributing to several studio dates, among them “Tears of a Clown.” Meanwhile former Motown writers and producers Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland had launched Invictus Records and issued a track by their studio collective under the name 8th Day. Needing a touring unit to support the release, the label enlisted Davis as lead singer (with Woodard on keyboards); he subsequently provided the vocal on their biggest success, “You Got to Crawl Before You Walk.” Once 8th Day matured into a self-contained ensemble, tensions with Invictus prompted Davis to launch his own Rock Mill Records and assemble the soul-inflected hard-rock outfit Radiation, featuring dual drummers Davis and Dave Penny alongside guitarists Wayne Kramer (ex-MC5) and Mark Manko.
Radiation maintained a steady Detroit performance schedule yet struggled to translate its energy to tape; as Rock Mill’s releases met with indifference and local club work dwindled, Davis exited full-time music at age forty-two. Renewed interest in “Find a Quiet Place (And Be Lonely)” across the U.K., however, along with collector curiosity about his earlier scarce sides, led to occasional English shows and licensing of his Rock Mill catalog for reissues in Japan and Europe. Vampisoul Records eventually gathered some of his strongest 1960s recordings on the anthology Detroit Soul Ambassador.
At seventeen he enlisted in the Navy, using free hours to master piano and guitar while beginning to pen original material. His debut single, “I Don’t Want You” b/w “About Love,” appeared in 1961 on the local Jack Pot label; the follow-up, “Playboy” b/w “I Won’t Be Your Fool,” came out on the storied Fortune Records, home to local luminaries Andre Williams, Nolan Strong, and Nathaniel Mayer. Having already proven himself a commanding singer and adept pianist, Davis next took up drums and secured steady work at Muskegon’s Ebony Club fronting his group the Jaywalkers, whose lineup included an up-and-coming vocalist named David Ruffin. The band performed widely across Michigan and recorded for Fortune, yet those tracks remained unreleased; Davis’s subsequent single, “Wedding Bells” b/w “It’s No News,” surfaced on the fleeting Ke Ke imprint.
He then aligned with Mike Hanks’s D-Town Records and cut “Find a Quiet Place (And Be Lonely)” for the Wheel City subsidiary in 1965; though the disc drew little attention at first, it later became a fixture at Northern Soul gatherings in the United Kingdom. By then Davis was gaining recognition as a songwriter, supplying material not only for his own releases but also for notable Detroit acts including J.J. Barnes (“Chains of Love”), Johnnie Mae Matthews (“Lonely You’ll Be”), Lonette McKee (“Stop, Don’t Worry About It”), and Jackey Beavers (“I Need My Baby”), with producer Don Davis regularly seeking his contributions.
In 1966, after Ruffin departed the Jaywalkers to join the vocal group the Distants—later celebrated as the Temptations—Davis assembled a trio with guitarist Dennis Coffey and keyboardist Lyman Woodard. The unit enjoyed a lengthy, successful residency at Detroit’s Frolic Show Bar and subsequently at Maury Baker’s Showplace Lounge. Coffey produced sessions that secured Davis a contract with Mala Records, yielding the regional hit “This Love Is Meant to Be” b/w “Save It (Never Too Late).” As soul and R&B acquired a harder, psychedelic edge toward the decade’s close, Coffey’s guitar approach kept pace; Davis supplied drums on the guitarist’s debut solo album Hair and Thangs, while Woodard’s keyboard explorations grew more adventurous, anchored by Davis’s drumming within the newly rechristened Lyman Woodard Organization.
In 1970 Davis joined Smokey Robinson’s touring band as drummer, spending two years on the road with the iconic artist and contributing to several studio dates, among them “Tears of a Clown.” Meanwhile former Motown writers and producers Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland had launched Invictus Records and issued a track by their studio collective under the name 8th Day. Needing a touring unit to support the release, the label enlisted Davis as lead singer (with Woodard on keyboards); he subsequently provided the vocal on their biggest success, “You Got to Crawl Before You Walk.” Once 8th Day matured into a self-contained ensemble, tensions with Invictus prompted Davis to launch his own Rock Mill Records and assemble the soul-inflected hard-rock outfit Radiation, featuring dual drummers Davis and Dave Penny alongside guitarists Wayne Kramer (ex-MC5) and Mark Manko.
Radiation maintained a steady Detroit performance schedule yet struggled to translate its energy to tape; as Rock Mill’s releases met with indifference and local club work dwindled, Davis exited full-time music at age forty-two. Renewed interest in “Find a Quiet Place (And Be Lonely)” across the U.K., however, along with collector curiosity about his earlier scarce sides, led to occasional English shows and licensing of his Rock Mill catalog for reissues in Japan and Europe. Vampisoul Records eventually gathered some of his strongest 1960s recordings on the anthology Detroit Soul Ambassador.
Albums
Singles
