Chicago legend, the late great Otis Leavill, sings his Northern Soul monster classic, "Nobody But You". This track is from my tremendously exciting DVD documentary "The Strange World of Northern Soul" which was released back in October 2008. If you ever went to Blackpool Mecca or Wigan Casino, this is the must-have purchase. A five disc box set with some huge blackbusters including "Out On The Floor", "Night Owl', "I'm On My Way", "Time Will Pass You By", "Blowing My Mind To Pieces", "Do I Love You", all sung by the original singers. We believe this will go down in history as the greatest Northern Soul DVD collection of all time. Otis Leavill Cobb was born February 8, 1943, in Dewey Rose, GA. The Cobb family moved to Chicago two years later. Leavill's childhood chum, Major Lance lived in the Cabrini Green Projects near Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler. 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. Otis's first record "Ride Sally Ride" dropped on Mercury's Limelight subsidiary, though he 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. Blue Rock Records was Leavill's next stop. There he cut some memorable sides, including Billy Butlers' "To Be Or Not To Be," and "Let Me Live." When Carl Davis formed the Dakar label, he appointed Otis as Vice President and gave him shares in the company. Leavill also recorded for Dakar where he enjoyed his biggest hit: Eugene Record's "I Love You" a song that sounded like Otis imitating Record the Chi-lites' lead singer; it climbed to number 10 R&B but never threatened the Pop Top 40, stalling at number 64. Another single "There's Nothing Better Than Loving You" scraped into the lower rungs of the R&B chart. After Dakar's demise Carl Davis went to Brunswick Records, Leavill followed and had a few releases including "Can't Stop Loving You" which sells for $40 bucks to collectors, but never had the success he had at Dakar. His releases after that were sporadic. "Right Back In Love" came out on Columbia Records, but after a few more droppings, Leavill's recording career ended. Never one to sit back and wait, Leavill also owned the '76 Car Wash and Gas Station at Washington and Pulaski and moonlighted as a policeman in a west Chicago suburb. He formed OK Records in 2000 after a long hiatus from the record business. Sadly, Otis Leavill passed July 17, 2002 of a heart attack, he was 65.
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