OTIS LEAVILL

Otis Leavill was a vocalist, producer and label executive who worked with many of the biggest names in Chicago Soul--including Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, Major Lance, Tyrone Davis, Gene Chandler, and the Chi-Lites. 

He was born Otis Leavill Cobb in Dewey Rose, Georgia, on February 8, 1937. (Some sources give his birth year as 1941.) When he was two, the family moved to the West Side of Chicago. His father was pastor of the First Church of Deliverance on South Wabash Avenue, where the boy sang in his family’s gospel group, the Cobb Quartet.

Leavill developed a boyhood friendship with Major Lance. Together, they attended McKinley Upper Grade Center and Crane High. When Lance moved to the Cabrini-Green projects, he and Leavill hung out at Seward Park. They associated with the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, and his kid brother Billy. Leavill and Lance also took up boxing.

Although his family prohibited secular music, Leavill was drawn to Chicago’s thriving Rhythm & Blues scene. He, Lance, Barbara Tyson, and a long-forgotten fourth girl formed the Floats, a short-lived vocal quartet. After a time, Leavill and Lance paired off from the group and formed a duo. Together, they played shows, dances, and Jim Lounsbury’s teen dance show on local TV.

According to Leavill, “I think I sat in front of the Vee Jay [Records] building for two years trying to get in as an artist. … I wrote a song called ‘I’m a Soldier Boy,’ which Dee Clark recorded. I just sent the tape in. They liked the voice, but they just didn’t have time to look at new artists. But at Vee Jay I met Doc Oliver, who was writing for Vee Jay. He was also working for Arthur Grant, and he and Grant decided to record me on their Lucky label.”

Curtis Mayfield wrote Leavill’s first single, “I Gotta Right to Cry,” in 1963. WLS radio in Chicago ended up playing the flip side, “Rise Sally Rise,” which Leavill hated. In 1964, Leavill made two more singles with Oliver and Grant. One of them, “I’m Amazed,” became a local hit in the Baltimore-Washington, DC, area. Leavill toured on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars with Major Lance, who now had several hits under his belt, but acted primarily as his friend’s road manager. He also wrote “Sweet Music,” the B-side of Lance’s top five smash, “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um.”

Leavill finally hit pay dirt with his fourth single. Written by Billy Butler and produced by Major Lance for Blue Rock Records, “Let Her Love Me” reached #31 on Billboard magazine’s Rhythm & Blues chart in February 1965.  Locally, it was a #1 smash on Chicago’s WVON. Its success earned Leavill a spot at the Regal Theater with Lance in March 1965. He would end up playing theaters all up and down the chitlin’ circuit.

Leavill’s follow-up, “To Be or Not to Be,” did not chart nationally, but the singer insisted that it was the type of hit that sold a lot of records quietly over a long period of time. Though he recorded consistently, Leavill spent the remainder of the ‘60s without a hit.

He also worked as a talent scout and assistant producer with Carl Davis at the Okeh and Brunswick labels. There, Leavill discovered the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, Hamilton Bohannon, and Yvette Stevens A/K/A Chaka Khan. In 1967, Davis formed Dakar Records, where Leavill joined him as Vice-President. Leavill also recorded for Dakar, which gave him his biggest hit. “I Love You” was written by the Chi-Lites’ Eugene Record, who also sang back-up on the recording, as did Barbara Acklin (“Love Makes a Woman,” 1968). The single reached #10 on the Billboard Soul chart in January 1970. Leavill’s next release, “Love Uprising,” also charted. It, too, was written by Eugene Record.

By 1972, Leavill had stopped recording but continued to work with Major Lance, Tyrone Davis, Gene Chandler, and other acts on labels like Brunswick and Chi-Town (which he formed with Carl Davis). He also became quite popular in England, which Leavill toured many times in the ‘70s. Leavill further spent several years as a football coach at Hyde Park High, and became a police officer. He toured Europe with the Dells in 1999 and, the following year, formed his own OK Records label.

Otis Leavill died of a heart attack on July 17, 2002. He was survived by his wife Minnie and son Derick.

Charted singles:

“Let Her Love Me” (1965) R&B #31, Pop #116
“I Love You” (1969-70) R&B #10, Pop #63
“Love Uprising” (credited to “Otis Leaville,” 1970) R&B #19, Pop #72