ArtistInfo

Charisma

Band,
R&B/Soul, Classical, Brass, Folk and World

Charisma were a soul/funk group formed by Ray Green the brother of Jerry Green of the Contours. For many years people thought that Melvin Davis was the lead singer of the group called Charisma. This was mainly down to the voice of the lead singer sounding like Davis. The second reason was that the record was released on Rock Mill Records, the label Melvin Davis was signed to. The members of the group were Ray Green, Louis Carter Jr, Al Chisholm (former Contours), a gospel singer named Chris and Chris's brother named Doug. John "AJ" Carter was collaborator and manager. Melvin Davis recorded the song "Let love in your life" in 1979 for himself, but the song didn't take off and Melvin shopped around for someone to produce it on. Melvin was friend of Ray Green and he asked him to form a group. Ray Green took three members of his version of the Contours who had split off. Melvin took these singers into the studio and recorded their voices over his track and sped up the tempo. AJ Carter wrote the intro line of the song and revamped the lyrics. Louis Carter brother of AJ, sang it as a member of Charisma. In fact Louis Carter sang only the intro line and the lead singer was Chris (a gospel singer). They had auditioned several singers before they ended up with Chris, whose voice ,is very, similar to Melvin's. There was slight friction in the band as a few band members had preferred the audition of another guy called Tony Coates. Coates was not only a singer and songwriter but could also play piano. After the session, the group split up due to personal differences. Both John "AJ" Carter and his brother Louis Carter Jr. left because they had wanted Coates as lead singer.However Ray Green and Melvin Davis had chosen Chris as they thought that he was better on stage. They released a single entitled "Let love in your life / Gonna never give up" in 1983 on Melvin Davis' label called Rock Mill from Detroit. Both of these songs were recorded at Dearborn Studio A, Detroit. After single's release in the fall of 1983, Ray Green appeared on " The Scene ", a Detroit dance show on WGPR television. With the break up of the band, other than Ray Green, none of the singers who lip synced the song on television, were the ones who had laid down the vocals in June.

Members

Melvin Davis voc *1942 US