Melvin Davis’ next foray into the recording world began in 1968, after a call from an old friend, and led to him singing several of the biggest commercial hits of his career.

Ronnie Dunbar had been around the Detroit music scene since the early 1960s, and had met Davis during the days with Mike Hanks, where they had both recorded for him.

As Ronnie Love, Dunbar had recorded just one single for D-Town, but as the 1960s progressed, his reputation as a songwriter, arranger and producer was enhanced to the point that he came to the attention of the legendary Holland/Dozier/Holland writing team, who were setting up their own Invictus and Hot Wax labels, having recently left Motown.

As a staff producer, Dunbar worked with several local writers, including Steve Mancha, to produce a number of songs intended for future release. Several of the songs were sung by Mancha himself, but the rest were given to Melvin Davis, who was only paid to sing them on an ad hoc basis, not signed as an artist.

Davis’ vocal performances on songs like “I’m worried”, “Just as long” and “I can’t fool myself” to name a few, are some of his finest ever.

“That was a weird situation. I got paid $100 for each song and thought they were just scratch vocals so that Dunbar could shop the songs around. Then they put one of them out and it takes off.”

When the first of these songs “She’s not just another woman” was released three years later in 1971, it was credited to The 8^th Day, a group that did not actually exist. It was, in fact, Steve Mancha, who could not be identified because he was already the lead vocalist for another group on the label, 100 Proof Aged in Soul.

When the record became a hit on both R&B and pop charts, it became clear that  a follow up single, and an album, was needed. Invictus had recorded enough material with Melvin Davis though, and it was two of these songs, “You’ve got to crawl (before you walk)” and “Eeeny –Meeny- Miny – Mo ( Three’s A Crowd)” that became the next hits.

An album was subsequently released by The 8^th Day, which contained seven songs sung by Davis, and two by Mancha, but with no personnel to perform ‘live’ or undertake promotional duties. 

Ronnie Dunbar and bassist Tony Newton decided to create a group in a similar mould to Sly and the Family Stone, who were very popular at the time, and auditioned in California. ”They went down to California and auditioned all these people before settling on a line up they were happy with. But it just didn’t work. They were all from different musical backgrounds and didn’t work like I was used to. That tour was a disaster.

The album was all different styles too – a couple of my songs but all this other weird stuff. It bombed. ”Six new members were recruited and, with Newton and Davis, became The 8^th Day who recorded a second album and began a tour of the U.S. Neither went well, with the result that Melvin Davis eventually quit the group and signed as a single artist, writer and producer with the company.

His final solo effort, the exquisite “You made me over” was undoubtedly his best for Invictus, but after the 8^th Day debacle and continual financial wrangles with company executives, Davis quit for good not long afterwards.

“I never got my proper dues for any of that Invictus stuff. Most artists get screwed by record companies and I certainly got screwed then.”

music: "Eeny Meeny Miny Mo (three's a crowd)" - 8th Day (Invictus 9117b)

Continued