In the late s in Detroit, two singers named Joe Billingslea and Billy Gordon left their group (The Majestics) to create their own vocal group. Billingslea placed an ad in the local paper for other singers. Billy Hoggs answered it and was hired. Hoggs suggested they also consider his neighbor, Billy Rollins. Billingslea and Gordon agreed. Billy Gordon named the quartet "The Blenders". Almost immediately, Rollins was replaced with another friend of Hoggs named Leroy Fair. After singing together for a while, the group decided that adding a fifth member would round out the harmonies and complete the sound that Billingslea and Gordon were looking for. They added Hubert Johnson. By the fall of , The Blenders believed they had perfected their sound to the point where they could make a recording. They visited a music company called "Flick and Contour Records." The audition didn't pan out, but Billingslea, intrigued by the company's name convinced the group to change its name to "The Contours".
Later that day, the group traveled to Motown Records and auditioned for Berry Gordy, Jr. He liked the group's raw sound, but suggested they take a few more months to polish their act. They left
Despite an ever-changing lineup (with at least 25 different members over time) and a reputation as hell-raisers (Berry Gordy called them “hoodlums” and warned his other artists to “stay away from those cats”), the Contours were Hitsville’s most exciting stage act, combining gymnastic gyrations with Billy Gordon’s rough-hewn vocals to help establish Motown before the more polished Motown Sound had developed.
FAST FACTS:
- First Hit: “Do You Love Me”
- Biggest Hit: “Do You Love Me”
- Biggest Album: Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)
- Career Highlight: Recording “Do You Love Me” in propels the Contours to the national spotlight, and the song’s blend of R&B, rock ‘n’ roll and pop make it so popular that is frequently covered by other acts, especially those overseas: it becomes the first Dave Clark Five chart hit in the UK and this version hits Number 11 in the U.S., while Brian Poole and the Tremeloes have a Number One hit with it in Britain, the first Motown composition to top the UK charts. Long after becoming a standard, the Contours version is a hit once again in when featured in the hit film Dirty Dancing, sparking a renaissance for the Contours long after the son
The Contours (at various times) comprised of:
Billy Gordon(lead vocalist) (d. )
Joe Billingslea (b. 14th November , Hamtramck, Michigan, U.S.A.)
Sylvester Potts (b. Sylvester Potts, , Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. d. 6th January , Detroit Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.)
Leroy Fair(d. December )
Hubert Johnson(b. 14th January d. 11th July suicide)
Billy Hoggs
Charles Davis(d. 23rd February , Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.)
Huey Marvin Davis(guitar. b. 17th August , Columbus, Mississippi, U.S.A. d. 23rd February , Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.)
dennis edwards
Dennis Edwards (b. Dennis Wayne Edwards Jnr, b. Fairfield, Alabama, U.S.A. d. 1st February , Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.)
Joe Stubbs(b. Joseph Stubbles , d. 5th February )
Benny Reeves(Martha Reeves brother)
Darell Nunlee
Al Chisholm
Gary Grier
Council Gay
Arthur Hinson
Martin Upshire
Jerry Green
Alvin English
and
C. Autry Hatcher
The Contours were originally from Detroit in Michigan.
Their first incarnation saw the group under the name of The Blenders during
The Blenders comprised of Joe Billingslea, Billy Gordon, Billy Hoggs, and Billy Rollin adding Leroy Fa
The Contours Biography -
Off the Charts, Walls, and FloorsHope, persistence, a fluke, fame, a fade, a comeback. Hmm, the trajectory of this Contours biography sounds much gauzier than the Contours themselves!
(Click Play to hear the Contours perform) Their saga began, unsurprisingly, in Detroit. Who were "they"? As of , the Blenders: Joe Billingslea, Sylvester Potts, Billy Hoggs, and Billy Gordon as the lead. Later, with bass vocals by Hubert Johnson and guitar accompaniment by Huey Davis, this new blend auditioned before Motown's founder as the Contours. (They took the name from Contour Recordings.)
Their musical formula didn't wow Berry Gordy, who shooed them away for much, much later.
The Contours were already two degrees away from Motown through Johnson's cousin and Gordy's friend, Jackie Wilson. If anyone knew about high-energy singing and dancing, it was he. So when Wilson threw his support behind the Contours, they got all 12 of their feet in Hitsville's door that same day in
Physical tumbles might have been okay, part of their acts. Commercial tumbles were not. Unfortunately, the first Contours single, "Whole Lotta Woman," represented the latter. Wilson
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