Post by Motorcity on Oct 26, 2008 21:06:51 GMT -5
Pervis Jackson of Spinners fame dies at 70
Susan Whitall
The Detroit News
August 18, 2008 12:00 PM
Pervis Jackson, the big man with the smooth bass voice in the Spinners, one of the most enduring soul groups to come out of Detroit, died suddenly at 2 a.m. Monday at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. He was 70.
The singer had been diagnosed just days earlier with liver and brain cancer.
"I'm still in shock," said Claudreen Jackson of Detroit, his wife of 40 years. "Something that comforts me is, he lived his life exactly the way he wanted to. I don't think he missed much. That's the purpose of life, if you live it fully and abundantly."
His wife and children had taken turns being with Jackson at the hospital continuously, daughter Cindy was there when he passed "peacefully" at 2 a.m., on a night when the Spinners were performing a gig in Las Vegas. Pervis and Claudreen also had two sons; Shawn and Pervis Jr., and another daughter, Stephanie.
The Spinners started out in their native Detroit, with first Tri-Phi Records, then Motown, hitting with "It's a Shame" in 1970. After moving to Atlantic Records, they hit their stride in the '70s with songs including "I'll Be Around," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "(They Just Can't Stop It) Games People Play," "Could it Be I'm Falling in Love," "Then Came You," "Mighty Love" and "Rubberband Man," to name a few.
Audiences always cheered when Jackson's mellow bass voice piped in with "12:45" on the song "Games People Play."
Jackson was an original Spinner, having helped form the group in the late '50s as street-corner doo-woppers the Domingoes, while at Lincoln High School in Ferndale. He performed almost up to the end; his last time onstage with the Spinners was on July 19, in Alhambra, Calif.
"The Spinners are going to play in South Africa this month, and he already had a ticket for that," said his wife.
"Pervis was so full of life that we just thought he was going to go on forever. He just went downhill very fast," she added. "I kept telling him, 'It's like you're fading away before my eyes.' He said, 'I'll be all right, wife, I'll be all right. You worry too much.' "
His wife says off stage, Pervis was just as big a man as he was onstage. "He was a very generous, kind-hearted person."
Pervis Jackson was born May 16, 1938, in Bailey, La. "That's what his birth certificate says, although he'd say, 'Mama said it was really May 17,' " said his wife with a laugh. He was 7 or 8 when his family moved to Detroit, where he met Henry Fambrough, Bobbie Smith and Billy Henderson when they all lived in the Ferndale/Royal Oak Township area.
First they were the Domingoes, named after their two favorite groups of the time, Billy Ward's Dominos, and the Flamingos. Then at Smith's suggestion they changed their name to "The Spinners," after the flashy Cadillac hubcaps they loved.
Things started happening in 1960, when the Spinners met singer/producer Harvey Fuqua and his girlfriend (later wife) Gwen Gordy, sister of Berry Gordy Jr. The couple signed the Spinners to their Detroit-based label, Tri-Phi Records. The group's record "That's What Girls are Made For," with Marvin Gaye on drums, was Tri-Phi's first release, and a hit out of the gate. Tri-Phi foundered for lack of money, though, and Berry Gordy picked up much of Tri-Phi's roster, including the Spinners, Jr. Walker and the All-Stars and Shorty Long.
Thanks to Fuqua, the Spinners had a very polished act and always went over big at clubs like Detroit's 20 Grand, Motown's proving ground, where their former drummer Marvin Gaye had to scramble to outdo them.
But except for the hits "I'll Always Love You" and "Truly Yours," the Spinners spent much of the '60s trying for that elusive next hit song. The group took full advantage of Motown's Artist Development department, with Maurice King polishing their musical chops and Cholly Atkins working on their dance moves. But they were one of many groups at the busy company, and without a team of songwriters taking a personal interest in the group, they often languished. In slow periods, group members did other jobs at Motown; Jackson worked in shipping, and Bobbie Smith drove the Temptations on the road.
"We were disappointed, but we were never mad at anybody," Smith said in 2003, of the leaner Motown years. "We were getting lost in the shuffle, but if you say you're at Motown, it was a big deal at that time."
But the Spinners finally hit gold in 1970 when Stevie Wonder wrote and produced the song "It's a Shame" specifically for them. It was a hit late in coming, but is still considered one of Motown's most hauntingly beautiful songs.
When their contract expired, tired of being underused, according to Bobbie Smith, the group listened when their friend Aretha Franklin advised them to entertain an offer from Atlantic Records. Under the direction of Philadelphia-based Thom Bell, the group found their ultimate recording home.
Claudreen and Pervis Jackson met at Detroit's glamorous 20 Grand Club in 1964 and married in 1968, although she says they weren't together for 40 years "consecutively."
"Pervis used to say, when we were apart, our song was 'Working My Way Back to You,' (a Four Seasons song the Spinners covered) because that's what we were doing."
The couple's son Pervis Jr., now 33, suffers from autism, and Claudreen Jackson says her husband was always "very accepting" of his son's condition, "more than I was."
"He'd take (Pervis Jr.) to the barbershop. One of the young men from the barbershop said, 'If Pervis can be such a great father to such a difficult son, I'm going to try to be a better father to my son.' "
Pervis never lost his love of performing, even 50 years later. "Sometimes he'd complain about the early flights. I'd say, 'You know there's a word called "retirement," ' " Claudreen said. "He'd get insulted...he'd say, 'Retire"'
Jackson's death comes a year after original Spinner Billy Henderson died (Philippe Wynne, who was with the group in the '70s, died in 1984) and just four months after the Spinners' long-time manager Buddy Allen passed away. On Monday, Allen's widow Connie said tearfully, "I told Claudreen, now Buddy is up there, watching out for Pervis."
Funeral arrangements are incomplete; although Jackson will be at Swanson Funeral Home, 14751 W. McNichols Road in Detroit (313-272-9000) and the funeral won't be until Monday, "so all the Spinners have time to get here," his wife said.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@detnews.com.
Susan Whitall
The Detroit News
August 18, 2008 12:00 PM
Pervis Jackson, the big man with the smooth bass voice in the Spinners, one of the most enduring soul groups to come out of Detroit, died suddenly at 2 a.m. Monday at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. He was 70.
The singer had been diagnosed just days earlier with liver and brain cancer.
"I'm still in shock," said Claudreen Jackson of Detroit, his wife of 40 years. "Something that comforts me is, he lived his life exactly the way he wanted to. I don't think he missed much. That's the purpose of life, if you live it fully and abundantly."
His wife and children had taken turns being with Jackson at the hospital continuously, daughter Cindy was there when he passed "peacefully" at 2 a.m., on a night when the Spinners were performing a gig in Las Vegas. Pervis and Claudreen also had two sons; Shawn and Pervis Jr., and another daughter, Stephanie.
The Spinners started out in their native Detroit, with first Tri-Phi Records, then Motown, hitting with "It's a Shame" in 1970. After moving to Atlantic Records, they hit their stride in the '70s with songs including "I'll Be Around," "One of a Kind (Love Affair)," "(They Just Can't Stop It) Games People Play," "Could it Be I'm Falling in Love," "Then Came You," "Mighty Love" and "Rubberband Man," to name a few.
Audiences always cheered when Jackson's mellow bass voice piped in with "12:45" on the song "Games People Play."
Jackson was an original Spinner, having helped form the group in the late '50s as street-corner doo-woppers the Domingoes, while at Lincoln High School in Ferndale. He performed almost up to the end; his last time onstage with the Spinners was on July 19, in Alhambra, Calif.
"The Spinners are going to play in South Africa this month, and he already had a ticket for that," said his wife.
"Pervis was so full of life that we just thought he was going to go on forever. He just went downhill very fast," she added. "I kept telling him, 'It's like you're fading away before my eyes.' He said, 'I'll be all right, wife, I'll be all right. You worry too much.' "
His wife says off stage, Pervis was just as big a man as he was onstage. "He was a very generous, kind-hearted person."
Pervis Jackson was born May 16, 1938, in Bailey, La. "That's what his birth certificate says, although he'd say, 'Mama said it was really May 17,' " said his wife with a laugh. He was 7 or 8 when his family moved to Detroit, where he met Henry Fambrough, Bobbie Smith and Billy Henderson when they all lived in the Ferndale/Royal Oak Township area.
First they were the Domingoes, named after their two favorite groups of the time, Billy Ward's Dominos, and the Flamingos. Then at Smith's suggestion they changed their name to "The Spinners," after the flashy Cadillac hubcaps they loved.
Things started happening in 1960, when the Spinners met singer/producer Harvey Fuqua and his girlfriend (later wife) Gwen Gordy, sister of Berry Gordy Jr. The couple signed the Spinners to their Detroit-based label, Tri-Phi Records. The group's record "That's What Girls are Made For," with Marvin Gaye on drums, was Tri-Phi's first release, and a hit out of the gate. Tri-Phi foundered for lack of money, though, and Berry Gordy picked up much of Tri-Phi's roster, including the Spinners, Jr. Walker and the All-Stars and Shorty Long.
Thanks to Fuqua, the Spinners had a very polished act and always went over big at clubs like Detroit's 20 Grand, Motown's proving ground, where their former drummer Marvin Gaye had to scramble to outdo them.
But except for the hits "I'll Always Love You" and "Truly Yours," the Spinners spent much of the '60s trying for that elusive next hit song. The group took full advantage of Motown's Artist Development department, with Maurice King polishing their musical chops and Cholly Atkins working on their dance moves. But they were one of many groups at the busy company, and without a team of songwriters taking a personal interest in the group, they often languished. In slow periods, group members did other jobs at Motown; Jackson worked in shipping, and Bobbie Smith drove the Temptations on the road.
"We were disappointed, but we were never mad at anybody," Smith said in 2003, of the leaner Motown years. "We were getting lost in the shuffle, but if you say you're at Motown, it was a big deal at that time."
But the Spinners finally hit gold in 1970 when Stevie Wonder wrote and produced the song "It's a Shame" specifically for them. It was a hit late in coming, but is still considered one of Motown's most hauntingly beautiful songs.
When their contract expired, tired of being underused, according to Bobbie Smith, the group listened when their friend Aretha Franklin advised them to entertain an offer from Atlantic Records. Under the direction of Philadelphia-based Thom Bell, the group found their ultimate recording home.
Claudreen and Pervis Jackson met at Detroit's glamorous 20 Grand Club in 1964 and married in 1968, although she says they weren't together for 40 years "consecutively."
"Pervis used to say, when we were apart, our song was 'Working My Way Back to You,' (a Four Seasons song the Spinners covered) because that's what we were doing."
The couple's son Pervis Jr., now 33, suffers from autism, and Claudreen Jackson says her husband was always "very accepting" of his son's condition, "more than I was."
"He'd take (Pervis Jr.) to the barbershop. One of the young men from the barbershop said, 'If Pervis can be such a great father to such a difficult son, I'm going to try to be a better father to my son.' "
Pervis never lost his love of performing, even 50 years later. "Sometimes he'd complain about the early flights. I'd say, 'You know there's a word called "retirement," ' " Claudreen said. "He'd get insulted...he'd say, 'Retire"'
Jackson's death comes a year after original Spinner Billy Henderson died (Philippe Wynne, who was with the group in the '70s, died in 1984) and just four months after the Spinners' long-time manager Buddy Allen passed away. On Monday, Allen's widow Connie said tearfully, "I told Claudreen, now Buddy is up there, watching out for Pervis."
Funeral arrangements are incomplete; although Jackson will be at Swanson Funeral Home, 14751 W. McNichols Road in Detroit (313-272-9000) and the funeral won't be until Monday, "so all the Spinners have time to get here," his wife said.
You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@detnews.com.