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Sylvester Potts, member of The Contours has died on January 6. Potts joined the band in 1961, just in time for the band’s most famous hit song ‘Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)’ on Motown's Gordy Records. The song was originally meant for The Temptations, but the group had actually left Motown’s Hitsville Records by this time.
Instead, songwriter Berry Gordy, Jr., gave the song to The Contours, and ‘Do You Love Me’ single sold over a million copies and hit #3 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.
Since then, the song became popular again as one of the key songs in Dirty Dancing (1987).
Sylvester Potts stayed with the band until 2004, when he left to form his own group called Upscale... but began billing themselves as “The Contours”. Of course, original band member Joe Billingslea sued Potts... as a result two bands formed: Joe Billingslea and The Contours and The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts.
Below are more deaths for the month of January - for the full death list: Musicians who died in 2017.
January (15)
[07 Jan 2017] Eddie Kamae (American musician for Sons of Hawaii), 89
[07 Jan 2017] Jerzy Kossela (Polish guitarist and vocalist Niebiesko-Czarni), 74
[06 Jan 2017] Johnny Dick (Australian drummer for John Paul Young, Fanny Adams), 73
[06 Jan 2017] Sylvester Potts (American soul singer for The Contours), 78
[04 Jan 2017] Mike Gaborno (aka Gabby Gaborno; singer of Cadillac Tramps, Manic Hispanic), 51, liver cancer
[04 Jan 2017] Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (Indian sitar player and composer), 89, cardiac arrest
[04 Jan 2017] Bade Fateh Ali Khan (Pakistani singer), 82, lung disease
[04 Jan 2017] Georges Prêtre (French orchestral and opera conductor), 92
[04 Jan 2017] Vlastimir Trajković (Serbian composer), 69
[03 Jan 2017] Sam Lovullo (producer and casting director for Hee Haw), 88, not given
[02 Jan 2017] Auriel Andrew (Australian country musician), 69
[02 Jan 2017] Barbara Fei (費明儀) (Chinese opera singer), 85
[02 Jan 2017] Anand Yankaran (Chutney singer), suspected heart attack
[01 Jan 2017] Stuart Hamilton (Canadian musician and broadcaster, first music director of Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble), 87, unknown
[01 Jan 2017] Memo Morales (Venezuelan singer), 79, heart attack
Instead, songwriter Berry Gordy, Jr., gave the song to The Contours, and ‘Do You Love Me’ single sold over a million copies and hit #3 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.
Since then, the song became popular again as one of the key songs in Dirty Dancing (1987).
Sylvester Potts stayed with the band until 2004, when he left to form his own group called Upscale... but began billing themselves as “The Contours”. Of course, original band member Joe Billingslea sued Potts... as a result two bands formed: Joe Billingslea and The Contours and The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts.
Below are more deaths for the month of January - for the full death list: Musicians who died in 2017.
January (15)
