Mike
Alonzo Hanks was born on the 30th of August 1929,
in Bessemer, Alabama, to Robert and Quentillar Hanks. His
parents had seven other children and the whole family
regularly attended the First Baptist Church in East
Bessemer.
After
graduating from high school Mike joined the exodus to the
industrial north, moving to Detroit. He initially worked for
the city's bus company before landing a job at Ford's;
but his passion for music drew him to the city's numerous
clubs and makeshift recording studios. He met fellow
musicians and singers, including former hometowner Johnnie
Mae Matthews, and like her, he also recorded for George
Braxton.
Mike's
first songs were made in 1958: "Christien" and "Can I
Be Your Lover Boy." The Brax record label also credits a
backing group named The Contours, but this is a female
lineup, not the Motown guys.
It's
likely that founding-Funk-Brother, Joe Hunter, played piano
on these Brax recordings
as Joe told me he could remember meeting Mike in the late
50s.
"I
met him about two months after I met Berry Gordy. He came in
a club where I was playing (Little Sam's), and said to me
'You think you can
play, don't ya?' I thought; who's this gangster?
But that was just his way, and he said, 'Well,
let me buy you a drink.' I worked on all his first
stuff and helped him register his publishing company (MAH'S)
with BMI."
Mike
also recorded for the local Al - Jack's label, a
short-lived, end-of-decade enterprise owned by Alonzo Tucker
and Clarence Jackson, singing two more self-penned songs:
"I Got A
Feeling" b/w "I Cried." These recordings have a
typical late 50's pop sound, similar in style to Little
Willie John's big hit of '58, "Talk to Me, Talk to
Me."
Mike
submerged deeper into music making and tried to juggle it
with his role of a working, family man with two children:
Donald and Stephanie. But something had to give, and it was
his marriage. He got divorced.
Notes thanks to Graham
Finch
image must not be
reproduced, used or copied photograph
credits at end of webisode
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DESIGN AND
GRAPHICS BY
LOWELL BOILEAU
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