By the time Marvin Willis enrolled at Northern High School in 1969 as a 10th grader, Detroit was synonymous with young musical talent.
In fact, during that period, Detroit’s Motown Records was celebrated as the “Voice of Young America” due to the company’s smashing international success during the 1960s, which was largely driven by homegrown singers, instrumentalists, songwriters, producers, sound engineers and other creative geniuses.
On the surface, it appeared to be a perfect time for Willis, who had just recently set his sights on being a trumpeter after taking piano lessons during his junior high school years. However, when Willis showed up at the Northern band room for a beginner’s class and expressed his own musical aspirations, which included going to college on a music scholarship, the response he received was far from encouraging.
“He laughed at me,” Willis, a product of Detroit’s North End, who grew up on Delmar Street, said as he recalled his first face-to-face encounter with Northern’s respected band director and music teacher Donald Jones. “Mr. Jones said: ‘Marvin, I have kids that have been playing ever since elementary school and they’re not going to get a scholarship. And you only have three years to do it.’ ”
But what Mr. Jones did not know is that Willis had previously been mentored by another highly respected person in the community, the Rev. Charles Hercules Nicks Jr., a founding member of the Gospel Music Workshop of America and a former pastor and organist at St. James Baptist Church. Willis confessed that the opportunity to window shop at well-known men’s clothing stores like Serman’s and Louis The Hatter is what excited him most when he was allowed to come downtown by himself on the Oakland bus for piano lessons with Rev. Nicks. Nonetheless, Willis’ interaction with Nicks still shaped him positively as he began to learn how to read music and dream — talents that would allow him to soar … or at least, float (more on that in a bit).
“When Mr. Jones was talking about those other kids that weren’t going to get scholarships, I’m thinking: ‘What does that have to do with me?’ ” recalled Willis, who, in his younger days, had convinced himself that he was going to play for the Detroit Tigers before suffering a heel injury that required surgery before he entered high school. “I didn’t say that to Mr. Jones, but that is what I was thinking. And three years felt like a long time. I thought I would be as good as Doc Severinsen (retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”) by then.”
As the now-68-year-old Willis explained on Tuesday, it didn’t take long for Jones to begin to believe in Willis’ dream once he saw how devoted his student was to his craft; a craft that Willis demonstrated by practicing for long hours every day, with the exception of Sunday, because he “didn’t want God to be mad at him.” His practice sessions away from school required long periods in the bathroom at his family’s home because he loved the echo sound produced by his trumpet in that space. Despite the fact that his horn could be heard outside — and even down the block — Willis says his neighbors never complained. And at school he received even more encouragement as Jones’ agreement with Northern’s physical education teacher meant that Willis never had to worry about participating in gym class, providing even more time for trumpet practice, which often included Jones playing his own trumpet beside Willis.
The long hours of practice, and the support and nurturing that Willis received from Jones and others in his circle, paid off when Willis became accomplished enough on the trumpet to earn a music scholarship to Michigan State University in 1972.
“I was born and raised in Detroit. We have the best musicians in the world in Detroit. And Detroit prepared me,” said Willis, whose musical apprenticeship included being among a select group of high school musicians who were chosen to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the former Ford Auditorium, as well as being a part of a band that backed The Dramatics. “What I didn’t know at first was that Mr. Jones was giving me college lessons when I was in high school. He was training me to be a professional.”
The professional training that Willis received before attending Michigan State actually meant that his days as a student were numbered. Upon completing his third year of college, Willis received an invitation to join the Detroit Emeralds as a music director, just as the rhythm and blues/soul vocal group was preparing for a concert tour in England, which would be Willis’ first time on an airplane. Two years later, Willis would accept another invitation, this time to be a singer and trumpeter for the Detroit Emeralds, and that set the stage for his 19-year run with the group. Dating back to a few years before Willis joined the Emeralds, the group recorded four singles that reached the Top 10 on the R&B charts: “Do Me Right,” “You Want It, You Got It,” “Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms)” and “You’re Gettin’ A Little Too Smart.” But later in the 1970s, Willis was a part of something even bigger when he lent a helping hand and ear to another Detroit group, The Floaters.
The Floaters reached No. 1 on the R&B single chart in the late ’70s and No. 2 on the pop chart with the kitchy hit “Float On,” and its melody and hook — the astrological references made it a ’70s musical cult classic that still gets Black baby boomers and Gen Xers out of their seats when it is played at the family reunion. And like such classics as the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” everybody knew the lyrics and took turns mimicking each verse. Listen for wistful — and whimsical — renditions across Detroit wherever outdoor barbecues are billowing and groups of old-school music lovers are gathered this Memorial Day weekend.
“From their beginning, The Floaters — James Mitchell Jr., Paul Mitchell, Larry Cunningham, Charles Clark and Ralph Mitchell — were great. But at the time they just needed someone to write for them,” said Willis, who, along with another one of his mentors and fellow Detroit Emeralds member James Mitchell Jr., and Arnold Ingram were co-writers of “Float On,” which quickly rose up the charts after being released in 1977.
On Tuesday, Willis confirmed that the often-told story about the song being inspired by James Mitchell’s dream was indeed true, and that Willis was more than happy to take the early morning phone call from his dear friend afterward. Once the dream became a music reality, it featured spoken verses from Ralph Mitchell, Clark, Paul Mitchell (younger brother of James Mitchell Jr.) and Cunningham, who, in the spirit of the 1970s, identified their zodiac signs along with the qualities they sought in a mate, with a heavy refrain of “Float … Float On” held together by a bass-walking instrumental accompaniment that is just as memorable as the lyrics. The mixture had worldwide appeal, too, as “Float On” also reached No. 1 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
However, never did Willis’ “Float On” connection elevate him more than it did during an August evening in 1978, after he said yes to a blind date that brought him to a cabaret at the Northwest Activities Center. It was there that he met the woman who is now Maxine Willis, his wife for the past 43 years and the woman he happily raised a family with at their west-side Detroit home on Murray Hill. From Marvin Willis’ account, it was virtually love at first sight for him. But he said he didn’t get the full stamp of approval until Maxine brought up “Float On” to her mother, who was a fan of the song and quickly pulled out the 45-rpm single and found Marvin Willis’ name on the label. And that made him legit in her book.
Recently, it has been Maxine, not Marvin, who has been in front of microphones and cameras, but for events the couple wished had never happened. On May 6, Maxine spoke in front of a Fox 2 Detroit camera after the couple’s son, Marvin II, was in a fatal automobile crash after being hit by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 696 during the early morning hours. And on May 16, Maxine could again be seen during a local newscast, this time the cameras belonged to WDIV-TV, whose anchor, Devin Scillian, interviewed her from the Willis’ Farmington Hills home about the family’s long-held contention that their son Mario was wrongly convicted for the 2008 death of Detroit firefighter Walter Harris. Harris, of Engine 23, was a beloved 17-year veteran of the department, a husband and a father of six, who was killed in what was determined to be an arson at a property that was once owned by Mario Willis, who is serving a 30-year sentence.
Maxine Willis says the tragedies that she has spoken publicly about, and that have impacted numerous lives, will never be repaired by music. But she believes the music associated with her husband and family has a role to play if there is any healing to be had.
“From the beginning to this very day, there has not been a night that I have not prayed for the Harris family,” Maxine Willis said. “And we also have had to draw strength from what our family has always stood for, which is family unity, along with our faith.
“God has allowed us to do what we love to do, and music has been such an integral part of our lives. It’s not work. And what we have done has not only blessed others, but it’s been a blessing to us. I would certainly want families to understand that memories are all that we have. But you have to create those memories even in the midst of adversity. We’re going to start a foundation in Marvin’s name to continue his legacy of love and family and loving the Lord. And my husband is probably going to write a song about it, because that’s what we do.
“I expect this Memorial weekend is going to be a little different, but we certainly want to keep our tradition of family reminiscing and listening to old-school music. I also plan to pull the grill out and we’ll have an old-school good time, as best we can.”