Major Lance
Major Lance (April 4, 1939), 1941 or 1942– September 3, 1994 was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um", he became an iconic figure in Britain in the 1970s among followers of Northern soul. Although he stopped making records in 1982, Major Lance continued to perform at concerts and on tours until his death in 1994.
Early life
There has been some dispute over Major Lance's birth year; some sources claim he was born in 1941 or in 1942 (as Lance claimed). However, 1939 appears to be the correct year of birth. In the 1940 U.S. Census, there is a "Mager" Lance listed in Washington County, Mississippi as the one-year-old son of Lucendy Lance, a widow. Lance's gravestone also states he was born in 1939. 'Major' was his given forename, not a nickname or stage name.
Lance, who was one of 12 children, moved with his family on the northwest side of Chicago in the Cabrini-Green projects, a high-crime area, as a child where he developed a boyhood friendship with Otis Leavill, both attending Wells High School. This was the same school Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler attended. Mayfield called Lance a "sparkly fellow, and a great basketball player, which is probably how we met. His hero was Jackie Wilson, and he was always coming round and looking through my bag for songs that I'd written but didn't want to do with the Impressions. He was pretty good at picking them, too."
Major Lance
ALBUMS
- Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um released: 2009
- Everybody Loves a Good Time released: 1995
- The Best Of Major Lance released: 1976
- The Monkey Time released: 1963
- Swingin' With the Major released:
Everybody Loves a Good Time
Released 1995- Ain't It a Shame
- Sweet Music
- Girls
- I Just Can't Help It
- Rhythm
- The Matador
- I'm So Lost
- Sometimes I Wonder
- Come See
- Get My Hat (Nothing Can Stop Me)
- Too Hot to Hold
- Everybody Loves a Good Time
- Dark and Lonely
- Investigate
- It's the Beat
- Ain't No Soul (in These Old Shoes)
- Without a Doubt
- Don't Fight It
- Wait Till I Get You in My Arms
- You Don't Want Me No More
Born: 1939-04-04
Died: 1994-09-03
Come See
Hey, mama, won`t you come and see
What the music has done to me
I just started not so very long
It seems to come out all in song Come now, now or later
Sing the Mashed Potato
My feet going beserk
As I do the New York Jerk
Come see Hey, mama, what you doing now
Won`t you see that I know how
The beat is blasting on the radio
Come see before the miracle Come look and get? As I go back to the old Twist
Gotta do a little dance now? Come see Yeah, yeah, yeah Hey, mama, won`t you come and see
What the music has done to me
I just started not so very long
It seems to come out all in song Come now, now or later
Sing the Mashed Potato
My feet going beserk
As I do the New York Jerk
Come see Yeah, yeah