1. Major 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.
Major Lance's 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.
Major Lance became a featured dancer on a local television show, Time for Teens, and presenter Jim Lounsbury gave him a one-off record deal with Mercury Records.
Major Lance worked at various jobs over the next few years.
Major Lance and Davis continued to work together; "Too Hot to Hold" was a minor hit, but they had diminishing success before Davis in turn left the company.
Major Lance left Curtom in 1971 and recorded briefly for the Volt and Columbia labels.
Major Lance returned to Atlanta in 1974 and recorded an updated disco version of "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" for Playboy Records.
Major Lance set up a new label, Osiris, with former Booker T and the MG's drummer Al Jackson, but again with little success, and his career hit a downward spiral.
Major Lance briefly recorded for Motown Records, releasing the last-ever single on its Soul Records subsidiary, "I Never Thought I'd Be Losing You," in 1978.
Major Lance later found that his recordings had become popular on the beach music circuit in the Carolinas, where he continued to undertake live performances.
Major Lance recorded a comeback album, The Major's Back, and several tracks for the Kat Family label.
Major Lance died in 1994 in his sleep from heart disease in Decatur, Georgia.
Major Lance is buried at Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.
Major Lance asserted that Lance had promised to pay her doctor and hospital bills of around $375 but had defaulted on these payments.