Alvin Cash (born Alvin Welch; February 15, 1939 – November 21, 1999) was an American
pop singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
.
Biography
Born in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, Cash was and a graduate of St. Louis's
Sumner High School (also attended by
Luther Ingram
Luther Thomas Ingram (November 30, 1937 – March 19, 2007) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. His most successful record, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 3 ...
,
Billy Davis Jr.
Billy Davis Jr. (born June 26, 1938) is an American singer and musician, best known as a member of the 5th Dimension. Along with his wife Marilyn McCoo, he had hit records during 1976 and 1977 with "I Hope We Get to Love in Time", " Your Love", ...
, and
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...
). Around 1962, he and three of his brothers moved to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, where they performed as a dance act. Cash also searched for a
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
.
Andre Williams Andre Williams may refer to:
* Andre Williams (musician)
* Andre Williams (American football)
* Andre Williams, British DJ better known as Shy FX
{{hndis, Williams, Andre ...
, who was the house producer at One-der-ful Records saw them perform as The Crawlers and had them record a tune, "Twine Time," to exploit a popular teen dance that was the rage on the south side of Chicago in late 1963. Released on One-der-ful's Mar-V-Lus imprint in 1964, the tune became a pop hit in January 1965, and whereas 'The Crawlers' proper (Cash's brothers) did not sing on the track, a band called The Nightliters from Louisville, Kentucky, provided the instrumental backing. The "ooh-aah" opening was edited out on some radio stations who thought it too suggestive for their audience.
"Twine Time" became popular in the UK in the
Northern soul scene in the 1970s.
The Crawlers name appeared on the two follow-up singles, "The Barracuda" (a national r&b hit in 1965) and "The Penguin," which failed to chart. By the fourth release, the Nightlighters, which had been touring with Cash and backing him on all his sides, were credited as "The Registers," and that credit appeared on the next five Mar-V-Lus singles, namely, "Boston Monkey" (1965), "The Philly Freeze" (a national hit in 1966), "Alvin's Boo-Ga-Loo" (1966), "Doin' the Ali Shuffle" (1967), and "The Charge" (big local Chicago hit in 1967).
Cash went solo after a few further singles, and recorded an album in tribute to
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
; he also acted in several
blaxploitation
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...
films, such as ''
Petey Wheatstraw'' and ''Black Bart''. He continued performing in the Chicago area into the 1990s. He died from
ulcer
An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...
complications in 1999, at age 60.
Biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
Singles
*"Twine Time" (1964) US No. 14, US R&B No. 4
*"The Barracuda" (1965) US No. 59, US R&B No. 29
*"The Philly Freeze" (1966) US No. 49, US R&B No. 12
*"Mr. Penguin"
*"Unwind the Twine"
*"Keep on Dancing" (1968) US No. 66, US R&B No. 14
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cash, Alvin
1939 births
1999 deaths
American male film actors
Chess Records artists
Singers from Missouri
Sumner High School (St. Louis) alumni
Northern soul musicians
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
20th-century American male singers
Deaths from ulcers