Biography of Major Lance

Few vocalists better epitomize the breezy danceability of '60s Chicago soul than whippet-thin Major Lance. Local deejay Jim Lounsbury discovered the loose-limbed singer and arranged his first contract with Mercury in 1959, but Lance needed expert guidance -- and he received plenty from innovative producer Carl Davis after joining the Okeh label in 1962. Armed with exceptional dance material by Curtis Mayfield and the brass-heavy, often Latin-tinged charts of Jonny Pate, Lance blasted off with "The Monkey Time" and "Hey Little Girl" in 1963 and followed with the mysterious "Um Um Um Um Um Um" and "The Matador" the next year. When the influence of Mayfield and Davis dimmed, the hits became lesser in magnitude, and Lance left OKeh in 1968, bouncing from Dakar to Curtom to Volt with moderate success. Lance did a three-year prison stretch from 1978 to 1981 for drug dealing, but has been sighted on stage recently. ~ Bill Dahl