Al Wilson › Similar Artists

Dobie Gray - 67% match to Al Wilson

26 July 1940, Simonton, Texas, USA. Gray moved from Texas to California in the early 60s, where he began recording for local labels. His seventh single ‘Look At Me’ was a minor hit for the Cordak label in January 1963. The compulsive, if boastful, single ‘The ‘In’ Crowd’ (written by Billy Page) was his major breakthrough in 1965, spending severa Read more

The Tams - 64% match to Al Wilson

This US group was formed in 1952 as the Four Dots in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Their line-up featured Joseph Pope (6 November 1933, d. 16 March 1996), Charles Pope (b. 7 August 1936), Robert Lee Smith (b. 18 March 1936) and Horace Kay (b. 13 April 1934). Although such an early origin suggests longevity, it was not until 1960 that the group emerged with a single on Swan. Now dub Read more

Darrell Banks - 60% match to Al Wilson

Darrell Eubanks, 1938, Mansfield, Ohio, USA, d. March 1970, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Banks sprang to fame in 1966 with his magnificent debut single, ‘Open The Door To Your Heart’, one of the finest non- Motown Records releases to emerge from Detroit. A second hit, ‘Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You’, followed that same year, but the singer’s progress was Read more

Major Lance - 59% match to Al Wilson

4 April 1939 (1941 is also cited), Winterville, Mississippi, USA, d. 3 September 1994, Decatur, Georgia, USA. A former amateur boxer and a dancer on the Jim Lounsbury record-hop television show, Lance also sang with the Five Gospel Harmonaires and for a brief period with Otis Leavill and Barbara Tyson in the Floats. His 1959 Mercury Records release, ‘I Got A Girl’, Read more

Robert Knight - 58% match to Al Wilson

24 April 1945, Franklin, Tennessee, USA. Knight made his professional vocal debut with the Paramounts, a harmony quintet comprising school friends. Signed to Dot Records, they recorded ‘Free Me’ in 1961, a US R&B hit, outselling the cover version by Johnny Preston. After this initial success their subsequent releases flopped and resulted in the group breaking u Read more

R. Dean Taylor - 50% match to Al Wilson

Toronto, Canada. Taylor remains the most successful white artist to emerge from the Motown Records stable. The protégé of writer/producer Brian Holland, he worked on many of the mid-60s hits produced by the Holland / Dozier / Holland partnership, and later claimed to have helped to compose several songs credited to them. He began his recording career in 1965 wi Read more

Billy Butler - 49% match to Al Wilson

Freda Payne - 45% match to Al Wilson

Freda Charcilia Payne, 19 September 1945, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Schooled in jazz and classical music, this urbane singer attended the Institute Of Musical Arts and worked with Pearl Bailey prior to recording her debut album in 1963 for MGM Records. Payne signed to Holland/Dozier/Holland’s label Invictus Records and her first recording, ‘The Unhooked Generation
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The Flirtations - 45% match to Al Wilson

A British-based R&B female group, who originally came from New York City, New York, USA. The Supremes were extremely popular during the late 60s, and record companies were keen to record any female groups who sounded like them. The Flirtations were the beneficiaries of this phenomenon. The members were sisters Shirley and Earnestine Pearce and Viola Billups. The Pearce sist Read more

Kim Weston - 44% match to Al Wilson

Agatha Natalie Weston, 20 December 1939, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Kim Weston received her musical education with the Wright Specials gospel group, an influence that survived throughout her subsequent career. Torn between pursuing music or acting, she was persuaded to join the Motown Records label in the early 60s by Johnny Thornton, the cousin of two of the label’s top Read more

Arthur Conley - 42% match to Al Wilson

4 January 1946, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 17 November 2003, Ruurlo, the Netherlands. Recalled as something of a one-hit-wonder, this Otis Redding protégé remains underrated. Conley first recorded for the Atlanta-based NRC label as Arthur And The Corvets. After signing to his mentor Otis Redding’s Jotis label, further singles were leased to Volt and Stax Re Read more

The Velvelettes - 42% match to Al Wilson

Two pairs of sisters, Millie and Cal Gill, and Bertha and Norma Barbee, formed the original Velvelettes line-up in 1961 at Western Michigan State University. After recording a one-off single, ‘There He Goes’, for IPG Records in 1963, they were signed to Motown Records, where they were placed in the hands of fledgling producer Norman Whitfield. This partnership spawned Read more

Chairmen Of The Board - 40% match to Al Wilson

Briefly known as the Gentlemen, this Detroit-based quartet was instigated by General Norman Johnson (23 May 1943, Norfolk, Virginia, USA). A former member of the Showmen, he left that group in 1968 intent on a solo path, but instead joined Danny Woods (b. 10 April 1944, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), Harrison Kennedy (b. Canada) and Eddie Curtis (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) Read more

The Contours - 38% match to Al Wilson

The Contours formed as an R&B vocal group in Detroit in 1959, featuring lead vocalist Billy Gordon, Billy Hoggs, Joe Billingslea and Sylvester Potts. Hubert Johnson (14 January 1941, d. 11 July 1981) joined the line-up in 1960, and it was his cousin Jackie Wilson who secured the group an audition and then a contract with Motown Records in 1961. Initial singles proved uns Read more

The Spinners - 38% match to Al Wilson