 | This article needs additional citations for
verification. (August 2018) |
Eddie Willis | |
|---|---|
 Willis at a ceremony in March 2013 to receive a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame for the Funk Brothers | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Chank Willis |
| Born | June 3, 1936 Grenada, Mississippi, US |
| Died | August 20, 2018 (aged 82) Gore Springs, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Electric guitar, electric sitar |
| Labels | Motown |
Eddie "Chank" Willis (June 3, 1936 – August 20, 2018) was an American soul musician. Willis played electric guitar and occasional electric sitar for Motown's in-house studio band, The Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Career
Born in Grenada, Mississippi, Willis was known for his signature style of muted guitar riffs which added a distinctive tone or "color" to the beat, often timed with the snare, of the hundreds of hit songs recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. for Motown artists. Among the recordings Willis performed on are " Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, " The Way You Do the Things You Do" by The Temptations, " You Keep Me Hanging On" by The Supremes, and " I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder.
Influences for Willis included Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, and Albert King. He played a Gibson Firebird guitar on most of his early 1960s work, later moving on to use a Gibson ES-335. On recordings such as The Supremes' "No Matter What Sign You Are", Willis performed on a Coral sitar.
He accepted an offer from Phil Collins to perform on his album of Motown and 1960s soul classics, Going Back.
Death
Willis died on August 20, 2018, in Gore Springs, Mississippi from complications of polio at the age of 82. [1]
References
- ^ "Motown's Eddie Willis, one of last Funk Brothers, dead". EU.Freep. August 20, 2018.
External links
- Justman, Paul (2002). Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Motion picture). New York: Artisan Entertainment.
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 | This biographical article related to R&B/Soul music is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1936 births
- 2018 deaths
- African-American guitarists
- American soul musicians
- People from Grenada, Mississippi
- The Funk Brothers members
- American soul guitarists
- American rhythm and blues guitarists
- Sitar players
- American session musicians
- 20th-century American guitarists
- Guitarists from Michigan
- Guitarists from Mississippi
- Deaths from polio
- American musicians with disabilities
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- 21st-century African-American people
- Polio survivors
- Rhythm and blues and soul music biography stubs