Post by timmy84 on Feb 3, 2007 18:38:46 GMT -5
Billy Henderson of the Spinners dies
FLORIDA - The music world has mourned the death of original Spinners member Billy Henderson. Henderson, 67, helped form the successful 1970s singing group with Pervis Jackson and Bobbie Smith among two others in 1957. Originally a doo-wop group, they scored their first hit in 1961 with the Tri-Phi song, "That's What Girls Are Made Of". The group eventually graduated to sophisticated soul with Motown Records' imprint V.I.P. Records. While there, the group scored two crossover hits: the Harvey Fuqua-composed "I'll Always Love You" and the Stevie Wonder-composed "It's a Shame" within a decade of each other before leaving the label for Atlantic where their mixture of vocal harmonies and Philly-laden strings came together and scored hits such as "I'll Be Around", "One of a Kind Love Affair", "Then Came You" and "Rubberband Man" becoming arguably the most important black vocal group of the decade. The Spinners were nominated for six Grammy awards and spanned hits into the disco period where they scored top 10 covers of the singles "I Keep Running My Way Back to You" and "Cupid" right into the early-1980s. Henderson left the group over a contract dispute in 2004. He follows Spinners singer Phillipe Wynde, who died onstage of a heart attack in 1984 in passing.
FLORIDA - The music world has mourned the death of original Spinners member Billy Henderson. Henderson, 67, helped form the successful 1970s singing group with Pervis Jackson and Bobbie Smith among two others in 1957. Originally a doo-wop group, they scored their first hit in 1961 with the Tri-Phi song, "That's What Girls Are Made Of". The group eventually graduated to sophisticated soul with Motown Records' imprint V.I.P. Records. While there, the group scored two crossover hits: the Harvey Fuqua-composed "I'll Always Love You" and the Stevie Wonder-composed "It's a Shame" within a decade of each other before leaving the label for Atlantic where their mixture of vocal harmonies and Philly-laden strings came together and scored hits such as "I'll Be Around", "One of a Kind Love Affair", "Then Came You" and "Rubberband Man" becoming arguably the most important black vocal group of the decade. The Spinners were nominated for six Grammy awards and spanned hits into the disco period where they scored top 10 covers of the singles "I Keep Running My Way Back to You" and "Cupid" right into the early-1980s. Henderson left the group over a contract dispute in 2004. He follows Spinners singer Phillipe Wynde, who died onstage of a heart attack in 1984 in passing.
