Malvin Lightsy (November 3, 1928 April 23, 1964), known professionally as Mel Walker, was an American R&B singer best known for his recordings in the early 1950s as lead male singer with the Johnny Otis Orchestra. Born in

Bloomburg, Texas Bloomburg is a town in Cass County, Texas, United States. Bloomburg is east of Atlanta, Texas, and is home to the Cullen Baker Country Fair, held every year on the first Saturday in November. Despite it being named after an outlaw named Cullen ...

, he grew up in Los Angeles and attended Jefferson High School with

Floyd Dixon Floyd Dixon (February 8, 1929 – July 26, 2006) was an American rhythm-and-blues pianist and singer. Life and career Dixon was born in Marshall, Texas. Some sources give his birth name as Jay Riggins, Jr., although Dixon himself stated that ...

. In 1949, he was discovered by Johnny Otis and joined his band, singing with Otis until around 1953. On many recordings he featured in duets with

Little Esther Esther Phillips (born Esther Mae Jones; December 23, 1935 – August 7, 1984) was an American singer, best known for her R&B vocals.Santelli, Robert (2001). ''The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Penguin Books. p. 376. . She ...

, and also recorded with

The Robins The Robins were a successful and influential American R&B group of the late 1940s and 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. They were founded by Ty Terrell, and twin brothers Bi ...

. Walker was credited as lead singer on many of Otis' earliest and biggest R&B hits, including "Mistrustin' Blues" and "Cupid Boogie", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1950, and "Rockin' Blues", an R&B #2 hit in 1951. He recorded Floyd Dixon's song "Call Operator 210", a #4 R&B chart hit in 1952. Walker was jailed on narcotics charges in the early 1950s. His body was found in an alley in Los Angeles on April 23, 1964, after an apparent drug overdose.

References

1929 births 1964 deaths Singers from Los Angeles Jefferson High School (Los Angeles) alumni 20th-century African-American male singers {{US-musician-stub