He was born in
Detroit,
Michigan, and studied music at the Westlake College of Music in
Los Angeles, becoming proficient in
classical,
jazz and
pop music. His main instrument was the bass, but he also played
trombone and other instruments. In the early 1960s he began playing in
Johnny Trudell's orchestra, and came to know many of the musicians who, then and later, worked at Motown, including bass player
James Jamerson who sometimes substituted for him in Trudell's band. He began working for Motown in 1968, and was responsible for arranging Marvin Gaye's albums ''
What's Going On and Let's Get It On, as well as singles including "Nathan Jones" by The Supremes, "Still Water (Love)" by the Four Tops, "Ball of Confusion" and "Psychedelic Shack" by the Temptations, "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight, "Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor, and "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder. He was nominated for a Grammy in 1971 for his work on What's Going On''. As a music director, he was responsible for Marvin Gaye's TV performances and live appearances by the Temptations, Four Tops, and
Diana Ross. After leaving Motown in 1972, he worked freelance for artists including
Paul Anka,
Millie Jackson and
George Clinton. He was an adjunct professor in the Jazz Studies program at
Wayne State University from 1979 to 1983. He also wrote music for live shows and commercials on behalf of corporations including Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. In 2008, he arranged four songs for the March 2008 Carl Dixon BandTraxs session at Studio A, Dearborn Heights, Detroit, where he and fellow musicians helped complete Dixon's dreams of paying homage to session musicians from the city who played on countless favourites of his from the 1960s. Playing on the session were the likes of
Uriel Jones (drums),
Dennis Coffey (guitar),
Bob Babbitt (bass guitar),
Ray Monette (guitar), Robert Jones (piano),
Spider Webb (drums), George Katsakis (sax - The Royaltones), Gil Bridges (sax - Rare Earth), Dennis Sheridan (percussion), Larry Fratangelo, percussion (Kid Rock), John Trudell (trumpet), David Jennings (trumpet), Mark Berger (sax),
George Benson (sax), Ed Gooch (trombone) and Rob Pipho (vibraphones). He scored the musical arrangements by hand and supplied charts to all musicians in the studio without the help of any computer. He died of cancer in
Southfield, Michigan, at the age of 67. ==Discography==