The Dramatics, with Willie Ford 2nd from the left, our cover picture of Soul Express printed issue 1/2000
A TRIBUTE TO WILLIE FORD
The 28th
of May in 2019 we heard the sad news: the bass singer of the Dramatics and the
leader of the “other” Dramatics for the past 7 years, Mr. Willie Ford,
has passed.
The very first
line-up of the Dramatics in 1962 consisted of Elbert Wilkins, Ron
Banks, Larry Reed, Larry Demps and Roderick Davis (bass singer at
that point). They were first known as the Sensations before turning
into the Dramatics, but they never called themselves the Dynamics. Rod
quit in 1970 and was replaced in by Willie Ford, who had earlier sung with the
Capitols of the Cool Jerk fame in the late 1960s.
Willie Lee
Ford was born on July the
10th in 1950 in Detroit. Willie: “I had a couple of uncles
that sang and played in church, and that’s where I got my start from. I was
singing in a church choir. Jackie Wilson, James Brown, the Temptations, the
Miracles and quite naturally - by me living in Detroit - Motown was a great
influence and had a great impact on me wanting to do entertainment.”
After singles on
Wingate and Sport, the Dramatics hit big with the producer Don Davis and
songwriter/arranger Tony Hester on Volt Records in the early 1970s with
such huge hits as Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get, In the Rain, and Hey
You! Get off My Mountain. Please have a look at our detailed discography
not only on the Dramatics, but also on L.J. Reynolds, Ron Banks, Jeannie
Reynolds and Five Special at
https://www.soulexpress.net/dramatics_discography.htm.
One of the key
persons to success, Tony Hester, passed away the 10th of October in
1980. Willie: “Tony was a very mild-mannered person – nothing bad that I can
say about him other than he just got caught up in the drug epidemic. One thing
I can say about him is that he was a very talented writer. We thought of him
as the sixth member of the Dramatics, because everything that he wrote was just
like it was tailor-made for the Dramatics.”
On the ABC label
in the latter half of the 1970s, the Dramatics scored with such hits as Me
and Mrs. Jones, You’re Fooling You, Be My Girl, I Can’t Get over You, Shake It
Well and still on MCA in 1980 Welcome Back Home. In 1975 they
recorded together with the Dells (Love Is Missing from Our Lives).
Willie: “The Dells – very good friends of ours. We call them our uncles. Don
Davis came up with that idea, and it turned out to be a very good idea.”
In 1982 the group went to a 5-year hiatus.
Willie: “Everybody just got tired. I think it was one of the things that
helped us to be in motion. I think it was a well-needed time for everyone to
get their head together, just release some of the pressure that we had been
under, because this is a very devious occupation – not as easy as people think
it is.” In 1986 they reunited. Willie: “I had moved out to California. Wee
Gee, Lenny Mayes and L.J. – they were out there. Basically the only one,
who was here, was Ron. We tried to get Ron to move to L.A., but he just didn’t
want to do it. We started talking, everybody agreed that we would come back to
Detroit, do the reunion tour and start all over again. During those years I
was just working. I got me several jobs. I was driving a truck, cabs, I
worked for minimum wage – whatever I had to do to live.”
In the 1980s
there were many changes in the line-up with such gentlemen as Bo Henderson,
Craig Jones, Steve Boyd joining the group for a certain period, and Winzell
Kelly becoming a permanent member. Elbridge Bryant, however,was
never a member, as stated in some sources. The group kept on recording fine
albums for such labels as Fantasy, Stax, Volt, Life and Groovesville, but their
last significant milestone was the song called Doggy Dogg World on Snoop
Dogg’s platinum album Doggy Style in 1993.
Ron Banks died
in March 2010 and two years later Willie Ford quit and formed his own
Dramatics. You can read both L.J. Reynolds’ and Willie’s comments on that
incident at
https://www.soulexpress.net/deep2_2012.htm#dramatics.