Major Lance

There has been some dispute over Major Lance's birth year; some sources claimed he was born in 1941.{{cite book|title=On This Day in Music History|page=96|first=Jay|last=Warner|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|year=2004|edition=illustrated|isbn=9780634066931}} or in 1942 (as Lance claimed). However, 1939 appears to be the correct year of his birth. In the 1940 U.S. Census, "Mager" Lance is listed in Washington County, Mississippi, as the one-year-old son of Lucendy Lance, a widow.{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com|title=Sixteenth Census of the United States (1940)[database on-line], Beat 3, Washington County, Mississippi, Enumeration District: 76-25, Sheet: 10B, Line: 67, household of Lucendy Lance|publisher= The Generations Network|location=United States|date=1940-05-07|access-date=2013-08-05}} Lance's gravestone also confirms he was born in 1939.{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=7129182&PIpi=19862746|title=Major Lance's Gravestone|website=Find a Grave|access-date=April 5, 2012}} 'Major' was his given name, not a nickname or stage name.{{cite web|url=http://home.iprimus.com.au/stephenbardsley/major_lance.htm|title=Biography at The Northern Soul Nightshift|website=home.iprimus.com.au|accessdate=April 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060109090126/http://home.iprimus.com.au/stephenbardsley/major_lance.htm|archive-date=January 9, 2006}}

Lance, who was one of 12 children,Billboard. August 10, 1963. p. 16 moved as a child with his family to the midnorth side of Chicago in the Cabrini-Green projects,{{cite book|title=Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door|first=Nick|last=Talevski|year=2010|page=390|isbn=9780857121172}} a high-crime area, where he developed a boyhood friendship with Otis Leavill, both of whom attended Wells High School.{{cite book|publisher=University of Illinois Press|title=Chicago Soul (Music in American Life)|author=Pruter, Robert|year=1992|page=272|isbn=978-0252062599}} This was the same school Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler attended.Contemporary Black, Volume 43, p. 136 Mayfield called Lance a "sparkly fellow, and a great basketball player, which is probably how we met. His hero was Jackie Wilson, and he was always coming round and looking through my bag for songs that I'd written but didn't want to do with the Impressions. He was pretty good at picking them, too."{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-major-lance-1448552.html|title=Obituary: Major Lance|last=Williams|first=Richard|date=September 13, 1994|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=April 5, 2012}}

Lance was also a baseball player. Lance and Otis both did boxing, and also singing as members of the Five Gospel Harmonaires.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/major-lance-mn0000671746/biography|title=Major Lance: Biography|author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|website=AllMusic|access-date=February 26, 2009}}{{cite web|website=AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/otis-leavill-mn0000894018/biography|title=Biography of Otis Leavill Cobb|first=Andrew|last=Hamilton|accessdate=April 15, 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Major%20Lance.html|title=Major Lance Page|website=Soulwalking.co.uk|accessdate=April 7, 2015}} The two of them also worked together at a drug store.{{cite web|last=Jack Kirby|first=Michael|url=http://www.waybackattack.com/lancemajor.html|title=Major Lance|publisher=Way Back Attack|access-date=April 6, 2012}}

Lance and Otis Leavill formed a group named the Floats in the mid-1950s but broke up before recording any material. Lance became a featured dancer on a local television show, Time for Teens,{{cite book|title=Doowop: The Chicago Scene|first=Robert|last=Pruter|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1996|page=197|isbn=9780252065064}} and presenter Jim Lounsbury gave him a one-off record deal with Mercury Records. Mercury released his single "I Got a Girl", written and produced by Curtis Mayfield, in 1959; it was not successful. Lance worked at various jobs over the next few years.

In 1962 he signed with Okeh Records on Mayfield's recommendation. Lance was constantly showing up at the Okeh offices, offering to run errands for Carl Davis, telling him about the record he'd once made and how he and Curtis Mayfield were friends from their childhood. His first single, "Delilah", was not successful, but it established his partnership with the writing and arranging team of Mayfield, Carl Davis, and Johnny Pate, often with members of Mayfield's group, the Impressions, on backing vocals. Together they developed a distinctive, Latin-tinged sound which epitomised Chicago soul in contrast to music recorded elsewhere.

{{Listen|filename=Monkey_Time.ogg|title="The Monkey Time" (1963)|description=The Monkey Time was Major Lance's first successful hit song, and it became Okeh's first hit single in 10 years.|format=Ogg|pos=right}}

The second Okeh single, "The Monkey Time" (also written by Curtis Mayfield), was Major Lance's first hit,{{cite magazine|magazine=Jet Magazine|date=September 1963|volume=24|issue=20|page=65|title=New York Beat|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8ADAAAAMBAJ&q=jet++%22monkey+time%22+%22major+lance%22&pg=PA63}} became a No. 2 Billboard R&B chart and No. 8 pop hit in 1963. "The Monkey Time" became Okeh's first hit single in 10 years.{{cite book|last=DeCurtis|first=Anthony|title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music|year=1992|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|page=173|quote="The Monkey Time" not only became Okeh's hit in 10 years}} "That was my introduction with working with Carl Davis," Pate said. "We had a ball, making some very great music."{{cite book|title=The Man Behind the Music: The Legendary Carl Davis|page=185|first=Carl H.|last=Davis|isbn=9780983131724|year=2011}}

A succession of hits followed quickly, including "Hey Little Girl", "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" (his biggest hit, reaching No. 5 in the US pop chart and No. 40 in the UK, where it was his only chart success), "The Matador" (the only one not written by Mayfield), "Rhythm", "Sometimes I Wonder", "Come See", and "Ain't It a Shame".{{Cite book|first=Joel|last=Whitburn|year=2003|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002|edition=1st|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn=0-89820-155-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/397 397]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/397}}{{Cite book|first=Tim|last=Rice|year=1985|title=Guinness British Hit Singles|edition=5th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London|isbn=0-85112-429-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessbritishh0000unse/page/126 126]|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbritishh0000unse/page/126}}

In 1965 Pate left Okeh, and Mayfield began to concentrate on working with his own group. Lance and Davis continued to work together; "Too Hot to Hold" was a minor hit, but they had diminishing success before Davis in turn left the company.

During the 1960s, Lance toured the UK, where he was supported by Bluesology, a band including pianist Reggie Dwight, later known as Elton John.{{cite book|author=Buckley, David|year=2007|title=Elton: The Biography|page=47}}

Over the next two years he worked with several producers, with only "Without a Doubt" becoming a minor hit in 1968. Soon afterwards Lance left Okeh and moved to Dakar Records, where he had the Top 40 R&B hit "Follow the Leader." He then moved to Mayfield's Curtom label, which resulted in his last two Top 40 R&B hits, "Stay Away from Me (I Love You Too Much)" and "Must Be Love Coming Down." "Stay Away from Me" was also listed No. 4 in Jet Magazine{{'}}s "Soul Brothers Top 20".{{cite magazine|magazine=Jet Magazine|date=October 1970|volume=38|issue=26|page=65|title=Soul Brothers Top 20|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzcDAAAAMBAJ&q=jet++%22stay+away+from+me%22+%22major+lance%22&pg=PA65}} He left Curtom in 1971 and recorded briefly for the Volt and Columbia labels.

In 1972, he relocated to England so as to capitalize on the success of his older records among fans of Northern Soul music in dance clubs that played mostly rare and obscure American soul and R&B records. According to one writer, "[T]he Major's contribution was truly phenomenal and unforgettable... [He] was to become legendary as a UK club act, known to deliver 110% at every performance." In 1972, while in England, he recorded an album, Major Lance's Greatest Hits Recorded Live at the Torch, at the Torch, a club in Stoke on Trent, which has been described as "perhaps the best Northern Soul album ever made."

Lance returned to Atlanta in 1974 and recorded an updated disco version of "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" for Playboy Records.Billboard. September 7, 1974. p. 18 He set up a new label, Osiris, with former Booker T and the MG's drummer Al Jackson, but again with little success, and his career hit a downward spiral. He briefly recorded for Motown Records, releasing the last-ever single on its Soul Records subsidiary, "I Never Thought I'd Be Losing You," in 1978. He later found that his recordings had become popular on the beach music circuit in the Carolinas, where he continued to undertake live performances. He recorded a comeback album, The Major's Back, and several tracks for the Kat Family label. His final performance was in June 1994 at the 11th Chicago Blues Festival.

Major Lance was married to Christine (née Boular) Lance. He fathered nine (9) children by different women.{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19940904/1928783/major-lance-monkey-time-singer|title=Major Lance: "Monkey Time" singer|date=September 4, 1994|newspaper=Seattle Times}}

Lance died in 1994 in his sleep from heart disease in Decatur, Georgia. He is buried at Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.

His daughter (with Sylvia Robinson—not the singer/songwriter and co-founder of All Platinum Records and Sugar Hill Records), Keisha Lance Bottoms, was the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 2018 to 2022.

He was arrested twice in his lifetime. In 1965, he was arrested in violation of the Paternity Act. A Chicago woman, Para Lee Thomas, claimed she had a son by Lance, Ronnie Maurice Lance, born 1964. She asserted that Lance had promised to pay her doctor and hospital bills of around $375 but had defaulted on these payments. Judge Benjamin J. Kanter issued a warrant for Lance's arrest, setting Lance's bond at $1,000.{{cite magazine|magazine=Jet Magazine|date=September 1965|volume=28|issue=23|page=59|title=Issue Warrant For Major Lance In Paternity Case|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcEDAAAAMBAJ&q=jet++warrant+%22major+lance%22&pg=PA59}}

After recording briefly for the Motown subsidiary label Soul, he was convicted of cocaine possession in 1978 and served a four-year prison term.The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, vol 3, p. 2070.

In 1987, Lance had a heart attack. He later became nearly blind from glaucoma.{{cite web|url=http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/mlance.htm|title=Major Lance|publisher=Soulful Kinda Music|access-date=April 6, 2012}} As a result, he retired from the music industry.

File:Album cover for Major Lance.jpeg

On February 28, 1995, shortly after Lance's death, Sony released a CD collection called Everybody Loves a Good Time: Best of Major Lance. It features 40 recordings for Okeh from 1962 to 1967 on two discs. AllMusic reviewer Richie Unterberger gave the CD {{frac|4|1|2}} stars, calling it a "Delightful 40-song, double-CD compilation of Lance's best work for Okeh between 1962 and 1967, including all of the chart singles, quite a few misses and B-sides, five previously unreleased cuts, and some Curtis Mayfield songs from his debut LP."{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/everybody-loves-a-good-time-the-best-of-major-lance-r210369/review|title=Everyone Loves a Good Time: The Best of Major Lance|website=AllMusic|access-date=December 9, 2011|author=Unterberger, Richie}} Sony later released a shorter version of the CD collection titled The Very Best of Major Lance.

• The Monkey Time (Okeh, 1963)
• Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (Okeh, 1964)
• Major's Greatest Hits (Okeh, 1965)
• The Rhythm of Major Lance (Okeh, 1968)
• Major Lance's Greatest Hits Recorded Live at the Torch (Contempo, 1973)
• Now Arriving (Soul, 1978)
• The Major's Back (1983)
• Live at Hinkley (1986)
• The Very Best of Major Lance (Epic/Legacy EK 62243, 2000)
• Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (Collectables 2003)

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==See also==

• Guests on Soul Train
• Keisha Lance Bottoms (Daughter, Mayor of Atlanta)
• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
• List of disco artists (L-R)
• List of soul musicians

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• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{IMDb name|0484209|Major Lance}}
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Category:1939 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:American soul musicians

Category:Singers from Chicago

Category:Singers from Mississippi

Category:Okeh Records artists

Category:People from Washington County, Mississippi

Category:Northern soul musicians

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:20th-century African-American male singers

Category:20th-century American male singers

Category:20th-century American singers