Alvin Cash (born Alvin Welch; February 15, 1939 – November 21, 1999) was an American

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Biography

Born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, Cash was a graduate of St. Louis's Sumner High School (also attended by

Luther Ingram Luther Thomas Ingram (November 30, 1937 – March 19, 2007) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. His most successful record, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 3 ...

, Billy Davis Jr., and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

). Around 1962, he and three of his brothers moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where they performed as a dance act. Cash also searched for a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

. Andre Williams, who was the house producer at One-der-ful Records saw them perform as The Crawlers and had them record a tune, "Twine Time," to exploit a popular teen dance that was the rage on the south side of Chicago in late 1963. Released on One-der-ful's Mar-V-Lus imprint in 1964, the tune became a pop hit in January 1965, and whereas 'The Crawlers' proper (Cash's brothers) did not sing on the track, a band called The Nightliters from Louisville, Kentucky, provided the instrumental backing. The "ooh-aah" opening was edited out on some radio stations who thought it too suggestive for their audience. "Twine Time" became popular in the UK in the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scene in the 1970s. The Crawlers name appeared on the two follow-up singles, "The Barracuda" (a national r&b hit in 1965) and "The Penguin," which failed to chart. By the fourth release, the Nightlighters, which had been touring with Cash and backing him on all his sides, were credited as "The Registers," and that credit appeared on the next five Mar-V-Lus singles, namely, "Boston Monkey" (1965), "The Philly Freeze" (a national hit in 1966), "Alvin's Boo-Ga-Loo" (1966), "Doin' the Ali Shuffle" (1967), and "The Charge" (big local Chicago hit in 1967). Cash went solo after a few further singles, and recorded an album in tribute to

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

; he also acted in several

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

films, such as '' Petey Wheatstraw'' and ''Black Bart''. He continued performing in the Chicago area into the 1990s. He died from

ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughin ...

complications in 1999, at age 60.

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Singles

*"Twine Time" (1964) US No. 14, US R&B No. 4 *"The Barracuda" (1965) US No. 59, US R&B No. 29 *"The Philly Freeze" (1966) US No. 49, US R&B No. 12 *"Mr. Penguin" *"Unwind the Twine" *"Keep on Dancing" (1968) US No. 66, US R&B No. 14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cash, Alvin 1939 births 1999 deaths American male film actors Chess Records artists Singers from Missouri Sumner High School (St. Louis) alumni Northern soul musicians 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers Deaths from ulcers