Otis Leavill

Friendly, talented Otis Leavill Cobb was born February 8, 1943, in Dewey Rose, GA. The Cobb family moved to Chicago two years later and settled in the Londale area on the Westside. Leavill has four brothers and two sisters; a sister and a brother have expired. His father pastored the First Church of Deliverance on South Wabash, one of the first to broadcast on the radio, and formed the Cobb Singers, with Otis a member. Leavill's childhood chum, Major Lance lived in the Cabrini Green Projects near Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler. They slept over at each other houses and acted more like brothers than buddies. As teenagers the two pals participated in amateur boxing at St. Albees, Leavill always fought in a division five pounds heavier than Lance. At 5' 5" Leavill was short and stocky; Lance was taller and slimmer at 5' 8." They formed the Floats with two females: Barbara Tyson, and another that no one remembers. After eight months the Floats ended, they never released a record but recorded a demo that's floating around Chi-town. Always industrious, he worked at a grocery store, and Lance a drugstore in the Cabrini Green area. Leavill graduated from Crane High School, and attended Crane Junior College, and Chicago Junior College. The Impressions recorded first, then Lance, and finally Leavill. His first record "Ride Sally Ride," dropped on Mercury's Limelight subsidiary, though Otis says he waxed it for St. Lawrence Records who evidently leased the master. His next release "Gotta Right To Cry," a Mayfield song came out on Lucky Records; Lance had already waxed and released the tune in 1963 for Okeh Records. His third release "Let Her Love Me," in 1966, gave his career the boost it needed reaching number 31 on Billboard's R&B chart; the lilting Mayfield ballad, with the...