Rock and Roll; Interview with Billy Davis [Part 1 of 3]

Detroit in the 50s was an exciting time for us the music was fantastic I think every kid in every neighborhood was into music some way. You know there were more groups popping up and then you could imagine there was two or three groups in every block. You know we all thought we were going to be the next domino next clovers or. And in fact some of us did go on to become very popular as part of a group. But it was an exciting time. You know certain was better than working and sure. But. One of the other automobile plants but you know we hung around in the in the sort of near sort of places thing to do boxes we entertain each other on the street corners and at night under the street lights in someone's basement. My grandmother gave up her whole house to us. I was always full of one group or another.

It was an exciting time and same thing happened in every neighborhood. There were talent shows on the east side of the toward the west side and short on the north then downtown there are talent shows all the local theaters once sometimes twice a week around talent shows. So if you are a member of one of these groups you get a chance to perform live like they do at the Apollo. And that was exciting because you got a chance. All the girls coming down seeing you and rooting for you so to speak. It was an exciting time. And it led to a lot of things.