Wer war/ist The 8th Day ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD und mehr
The 8th Day
She's Not Just Another Woman
The 8th Day
She's Not Just Another Woman
Motown’s most successful writer-producers, Holland-Dozier-Holland, made their move in 1968. Edward Holland spearheaded the split. “It was just some breakdown in communication with Berry Gordy and myself that mostly led to that,” he says. “It was not really my intent, to be honest.” The name of their new Detroit-based label was the idea of Edward’s right-hand man. “Jeffrey Bowen said, ‘Remember this poem “Invictus?”’ I said, ‘What poem “Invictus?” I never heard of it.’ He said, ‘Well, it sounds like it fits you to me!’” says Holland. “He started telling me about this poem. I said, ‘Yeah, I like that, I like that. The head is bloody but unbowed. I like that. That’s me!’ So I said, ‘That’s fine. That’s what I’ll use: Invictus!’”
The 8th Day’s biggest hit was in the can long before they actually existed, and lead singer Clyde Wilson wasn’t part of the group when they were officially formed. Born Christmas Day of 1945 in Walhalla, South Carolina, he moved to Detroit at age nine and made his first single for Harvey Fuqua’s HPC label in 1962 as The Two Friends with Wilburt Jackson. By the time he started recording as a solo for Don Davis’ Wheelsville label in ’65, Clyde had himself a new handle.
“I was sitting there with his producer, Don Davis. I was sitting there in his office, and he was trying to come up with some names,” said the late Detroit writer-producer Don Mancha. “He finally come up with a first name, Steve. So he said, ‘Okay, I like Steve!’ So we bounced a whole lot of other names around to go with Steve, and he didn’t like none of those names. And he said, ‘Ahhh, that stinks!’ Then he looked at me and said, ‘Wait a minute!’ His eyes got big. He said, ‘What if I use your name?’”
As Steve Mancha, Clyde scored R&B hits for Davis’ Groovesville logo in 1966 (I Don’t Want to Lose You) and ’67 (Don’t Make Me A Story Teller) before entering Holland’s orbit. “Steve Mancha, I thought, was one of the most creative singers and writers,” he says. “I had heard about him, and Jeffrey Bowen found him and brought him to me.”
Mancha waxed She’s Not Just Another Woman for Invictus in 1968. He wrote it with Ronald Dunbar, another Invictus house scribe with singing success in his past: as Ronnie Love, he’d hit in ‘61 with Chills And Fever on Dot. She’s Not Just Another Woman debuted on the first LP by another H-D-H group, 100 Proof Aged in Soul, on Invictus’ Hot Wax subsidiary—same recording, different group name. Mancha was an actual member of 100 Proof, along with former Falcons/Contours lead Joe Stubbs. Apparently figuring no one would notice it had already been out under a different group name, Invictus pressed up She’s Not Just Another Woman as The 8th Day’s debut single in the spring of ’71. It went gold as it flew to #3 R&B and #11 pop that summer. H-D-H had a group ready to inhabit the name; Mancha stuck with 100 Proof, riding high with the ‘70 million-seller Somebody’s Been Sleeping.
The eight-member 8th Day was largely fronted by Detroit singer/drummer Melvin Davis, born August 29, 1942 in Milledgeville, Georgia. His Motor City discography already included singles for Fortune, Groove City, and Mala when he joined the ranks. “I lived in Detroit, so anybody that had any talent tried to do it,” says Davis. “Melvin was soon in demand with local labels. “My bands just got better and better,” he says. “I was with one company after the other.” Other primary 8th Day members were ex-Motown road bandsman Tony Newton on bass, organist/guitarist Bruce Nazarian, guitarist Michael Anthony, and percussionist Jerry Paul.
You’ve Got To Crawl (Before You Walk), The 8th Day’s freshly cut encore, featured Davis up front and equaled its predecessor’s #3 R&B peak, though it didn’t go gold. The group scored two lesser hits in 1972, If I Could See The Light and Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Mo, and was done altogether by year’s end. Wilson died January 8, 2011 in Detroit, his days as Steve Mancha long in the rear view mirror.
- Bill Dahl -
Various - Sweet Soul Music 26 Scorching Classics From 1971
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