It’s time to “Turn Back the Hands of Time” and celebrate the birthday of “the king of romantic soul,” Tyrone Davis (5/4/38-2/9/2005), who would have been 84 today (although researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc claim funeral notices state a birth date in October of 1937).
Over a 20-year period from 1968-88, Tyrone Davis charted over 40 R&B hits on the Billboard charts, three going to #1; not bad for a guy that at one time was blues guitarist Freddie King’s valet/chauffeur.
Born in Greenville, Mississippi, Davis moved with his father to Saginaw, Michigan when still an infant. By the late ‘50s, he had married and moved to Chicago where he got a job as a valet, touring with Freddie King for a year. In 1962, back in Chicago, he started working a job in a steel factory along side another bluesman, Otis Clay. Aspiring to be a musician, he would work West Side clubs on weekends.
It was there he was discovered by Harold Burrage. “Harold found me singing at a little club, and he seemed to like what I was doing,” Davis said in an interview in Blues and Soul. “So one night he came over and said, ‘I’m gonna get you a song and produce a record on you.’” Burrage picked “You Made Me Suffer,” which ended up being the B-side to Davis’ debut, the Four Brothers label single “You Consider Me,” credited as Tyrone (The Wonder Boy). Four Brothers was a small, independent label run out of Barney’s Record Store and one-stop on Chicago’s West Side. Burrage passed away in 1966 and the Four Brothers label floundered, closing shop in 1967.
Renowned record producer Carl Davis quickly signed Davis as he was starting up the new Dakar label. With a distribution deal in place at Atlantic Records, Dakar could get national attention and be able to fill the pipeline with records. Tyrone’s first release on the label was “A Woman Needs to Be Loved,” but as it turns out radio stations turned the record over, playing the B-side “Can I Change My Mind” https://youtu.be/KBEaDbMNiLEwhich ended up spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, crossing over to #5 on the Hot 100 chart, achieving gold record status selling over one million records. Tyrone Davis and Dakar were on their way.
Davis topped that two years later with his biggest and best-known hit “Turn Back the Hands of Time” https://youtu.be/j-opxZJvIZ0 which reached #1 again on the R&B chart, #3 on the Hot 100, and earned him another gold record. From 1968-75 Tyrone Davis accounted for nearly one-third of Dakar’s total output, achieving #1 again in 1975 with “Turning Point” https://youtu.be/40QlP2sLOiQ.
Those successes earned Tyrone Davis a slot with Columbia Records. Between 1976-81 he would continue his chart success with “Give It Up” reaching #2, “This I Swear” #6 and “In the Mood” #6 on the R&B chart. But his soulful sounds that appealed to a female audience were losing favor in the contemporary cross-over market; his last record to chart there was the disco-flavored “Get On Up” that barely scratched the Hot 100.
As sales slowed, so did Columbia’s interest. In 1982, Davis signed with the upstart independent Highrise label and scored a minor hit with “Are You Serious.” But that label closed a year later. Over the next few years his recorded output bounced to various labels including Ocean Front, Bellmark, Ichiban and finally to Malaco. While sales floundered, he was still in demand as a popular live performer.
Sadly he suffered a stroke in 2004. Following complications he passed away in February of 2005, leaving us a legacy that will not be forgotten.
Singles Discography
TYRONE (THE WONDER BOY)
1965 Suffer b/w Try Me (4 Brothers 45-447)
1966 Good Company b/w If You Don’t Need Me (4 Brothers 45-450)
1966 Please Consider Me b/w You Make Me Suffer (Four Brothers 45-453)
TYRONE DAVIS
1967 I Tried It Over (And Over Again) b/w I’m Running a Losing Race (Sack 4359)
1968 What if a Man b/w Bet You Win (ABC 45-11030)
1968 A Woman Need to Be Loved b/w Can I Change My Mind (Dakar 1452)
(Note: Dakar re-issued five months later with catalog number 45-602)
1969 Is It Something You’ve Got b/w Undying Love (Dakar 45-605)
1969 All the Waiting Is Not in Vain b/w Need Your Lovin’ Every Day (Dakar 45-609)
1969 I’m Confessin’ b/w I Wanna Be Good Company (Hit Sound HS 888)
1969 If It’s Love That You’re After b/w When I’m Not Around (Dakar 45-611)
1970 You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down b/w If I Didn’t Love You (Dakar 45-615)
1970 Turn Back the Hands of Time b/w I Keep Coming Back (Dakar 45-616)
1970 I’ll Be Right Here b/w Just Because of You (Dakar 45-618)
1970 Let Me Back In b/w Love Bones (Dakar 45-621)
1971 Could I Forget You b/w Just My Way of Loving You (Dakar 45-623)
1971 One-Way Ticket b/w We Gotta Love No One Can Deny (Dakar 45-624)
1971 You Keep Me Holding On b/w We Got a Love No One Can Deny (Dakar 45-626)
1972 I Had It All the Time b/w You Wouldn’t Believe (Dakar DK 4501)
1972 Was I Just a Fool b/w After All This Time (Dakar DK 4507)
1972 Come and Get This Ring b/w After All This Time (Dakar DK 4510)
1972 Was It Just a Feeling b/w If You Had a Change in Mind (Dakar DK 4513)
1973 Without You in My Life b/w How Could I Forget You (Dakar DK 4519)
1973 There It Is b/w You Wouldn’t Believe (Dakar DK 4523)
1973 Wrapped Up in Your Warm and Tender Love b/w True Love Is Hard to Find (Dakar DK 4526)
1974 I Wish It Was Me b/w You Don’t Have to Beg Me to Stay (Dakar DK 4529)
1974 What Goes Up (Must Come Down) b/w There’s Got to Be an Answer (Dakar DK 4532)
1974 Happiness Is Being With You b/w Where Lovers Meet (Dakar DK 4536)
1974 I Can’t Make It Without You b/w You Wouldn’t Believe (Dakar DK 4538)
1975 Homewreckers b/w This Time (Dakar DK 4541)
1975 A Woman Needs to Be Loved b/w Just Because of You (Dakar DK 4545)
1975 Turning Point b/w Don’t Let It Be Too Late (Dakar DK 4550)
1975 So Good (To Be Home With You) b/w I Can’t Bump (Dakar DK 4553)
1976 Saving My Love for You b/w I Can’t Bump (Pt. 2) (Dakar DK 4558)
1976 Every Lovin’ Girl b/w Forever (Dakar DK 4561)
1976 It’s All in the Game b/w Where Lovers Meet (At the Dark End of the Street) (Dakar DK 4563)
1976 Give It Up (Turn It Loose) b/w You’re Too Much (Columbia 10388)
1976 Close to You b/w Wrong Doors (Columbia 10457)
1977 This I Swear b/w Givin’ Myself to You (Columbia 10528)
1977 All You Got b/w I Got Carried Away (Columbia 10604)
1978 Get On Up b/w It’s You, It’s You (Columbia 10684)
1978 Can’t Help But Say b/w Bunky (Columbia 10773)
1979 In the Mood b/w I Can’t Wait (Columbia 10904)
1979 Ain’t Nothing I Can Do b/w All the Love I Need (Columbia 11035)
1979 Be With Me b/w Love You Forever (Columbia 11128)
1980 Can’t You Tell Me b/w I Don’t Think You Heard Me (Columbia 11199)
1980 Heart Failure b/w Keep on Dancin’ (Columbia 11246)
1980 How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) b/w I Can’t Wait (Columbia 11344)
1981 I Just Can’t Keep on Going b/w We Don’t Need No Music (Columbia 11415)
1981 Just My Luck b/w Let’s Be Closer Together (Columbia 112269)
1982 Are You Serious b/w Overdue (Highrise SHR 2005)
1983 A Little Bit of Loving (Goes a Long Way) b/w Where Did We Lose (Highrise SHR 2009)
1983 I Found Myself When I Lost You b/w I Found Myself When I Lost You (inst.) (Ocean Front 2001)
1984 Let Me Be Your Pacifier b/w Turning Point (Ocean Front 2004)
1985 Sexy Thing b/w Save Me (Future FR 101 / Prelude PRL 8090)
1985 Forever b/w Satisfy You Before I Satisfy Me (Prelude PRL 8092)
1987 I’m in Love Again b/w Serious Love (Future FR 102)
1988 Do You Feel It b/w Do You Feel It (inst.) (Future FR 103)
1988 It’s a Miracle b/w Wrong Doors (Future FR 104)
1990 Come On Over Here b/w One in a Million (Future FR 107)
1990 Flashin’ Back b/w Flashin’ Back “Dance Mix” (Future FR 204)
1991 I’ll Always Love You b/w Can I Change Your Mind (Ichiban 91-226)
1991 Mom’s Apple Pie b/w Do U Still Love Me (Ichiban 91-237)
1991 Talk to You b/w Prove My Love (Ichiban 91-243)
1992 Something’s Mighty Wrong b/w Let Me Love You (Ichiban 92-255)
1992 Running In and Out of My Life b/w I’ve Gotta Get Over You (Ichiban 92-261)
1992 Don’t Make Me Choose b/w Ain’t Gonna Get It (Ichiban 92-273)
1993 It’s a Miracle b/w Do You Feel It (Ichiban 93-285)
1994 I Found Myself When I Lost You b/w Something About a Woman (Ichiban 94-292)
1997 Delicious b/w Temporary Lovin’ (Malaco 2330)