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. His daughter, Keisha Lance Bottoms, was the 60th mayor of Atlanta. Early life There has been some dispute over Major Lance's birth year; some sources claimed he was born in 1941. or in 1942 (as Lance claimed). However, 1939 appears to be the correct year of his birth. In the 1940 U.S. Census, "Mager" Lance is listed in Washington County, Mississippi, as the one-year-old son of Lucendy Lance, a widow. Lance's gravestone also confirms he was born in 1939. 'Major' was his given name, not a nickname or stage name. Lance, who was one of 12 children, moved as a child with his family to the midnorth side of Chicago in the Cabrini-Green projects, a high-crime area, where he developed a boyhood friendship with Otis Leavill, both of whom attended 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." Lance was also a baseball player. Lance and Otis both did boxing, and also singing as members of the Five Gospel Harmonaires. The two of them also worked together at a drug store.