| Willie Hutch | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Name: | William McKinley Hutchison |
| Birth Date: | 6 December 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Origin: | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Instrument: | Vocals, guitar |
| Occupation: | Singer, musician, recording artist, producer, songwriter |
| Years Active: | 1969–2005 |
| Label: | RCA, Motown, Whitfield |
William McKinley Hutchison (December 6, 1944 – September 19, 2005), better known as Willie Hutch, was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s.[1]
Born in 1944 in Los Angeles, Hutch was raised in Dallas, Texas. He joined the high school choral group, The Ambassadors, as a teenager. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in 1962, he shortened his surname when he started his music career in 1964 on the Soul City label[2] with the song "Love Has Put Me Down".
After his move to Los Angeles, his music came to the attention of the mentor for pop/soul quintet The 5th Dimension, and Hutch was soon writing, producing, and arranging songs for the group. In 1969, he signed with RCA Records and put out two albums before he was asked by Motown producer Hal Davis to write lyrics to "I'll Be There", a song he wrote for The Jackson 5. The song was recorded by the group the morning after Hutch received the call. Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Hutch to be a staff writer, arranger, producer, and musician shortly thereafter.
Hutch later co-wrote songs that were recorded by the Jackson 5 and their front man Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, the Miracles, and Marvin Gaye. In 1973, Hutch started recording albums for Motown, releasing the Fully Exposed album that year. That same year, Hutch recorded and produced the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation film, The Mack. Hutch had several R&B hits during this period, including "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" and "Slick". He also recorded the soundtrack for the 1974 film Foxy Brown. He recorded at least six albums for Motown, peaking with 1975's single "Love Power", which reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. He left Motown in 1977 for Norman Whitfield's Whitfield Records.
Hutch returned to Motown in 1982, where he scored the disco hit, "In and Out", that same year and also recorded a couple of songs – "The Glow" and "Inside You" – for the 1985 film The Last Dragon. He had a club hit with the song "Keep on Jammin'" as well. Hutch left Motown again by the end of the decade and by 1994 had moved back to Dallas.
He died in Dallas, Texas on September 19, 2005, aged 60. No cause was given when he died.[3] He was the uncle of Cold 187um of the rap group Above the Law.[3] His manager, Anthony Voyce, said of Hutch: "I've never met a more generous and caring person."[3]
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop [4] | US R&B | |||||
| 1969 | Soul Portrait | — | — | RCA | ||
| 1970 | Season for Love | — | — | |||
| 1973 | Fully Exposed | 183 | 15 | Motown | ||
| The Mack (soundtrack) | 114 | 17 | ||||
| 1974 | Foxy Brown (soundtrack) | 179 | 36 | |||
| Mark of the Beast | — | 41 | ||||
| 1975 | Ode to My Lady | 150 | 24 | |||
| 1976 | Color Her Sunshine | — | 54 | |||
| Concert in Blues | 163 | 22 | ||||
| 1977 | Havin' a House Party | — | 26 | |||
| 1978 | In Tune | — | 63 | Whitfield | ||
| 1979 | Midnight Dancer | — | — | |||
| 1985 | Making a Game Out of Love | — | — | Motown | ||
| 1994 | From the Heart | — | — | Omni Records | ||
| 1996 | The Mack Is Back | — | — | Midwest Records | ||
| 2002 | Sexalicious | — | — | GG.it Records | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop | US R&B | US Dance | UK [5] [6] | |||||||
| 1965 | "The Duck" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | rowspan="4" |
| 1966 | "I Can't Get Enough" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | |
| 1967 | "How Come Baby, You Don't Love Me" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | |
| 1968 | "Use What You Got" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | |
| 1969 | "Do What You Wanna Do" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Soul Portrait |
| 1970 | "Walking on My Love" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Season for Love |
| "When a Boy Falls in Love" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "Love Games" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1973 | "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" | align=center | 67 | align=center | 18 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | The Mack |
| "Slick" | align=center | 65 | align=center | 18 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "Sunshine Lady" | align=center | ― | align=center | 72 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Fully Exposed | |
| "If You Ain't Got No Money (You Can't Get No Honey)" | align=center | ― | align=center | 70 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1974 | "Theme of Foxy Brown" | align=center | ― | align=center | 64 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Foxy Brown |
| "Foxy Lady" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "Chase" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "Ain't That (Mellow, Mellow)" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1975 | "Get Ready for the Get Down" | align=center | ― | align=center | 24 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | The Mark of the Beast |
| "Love Power" | align=center | 41 | align=center | 8 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Ode to My Lady | |
| 1976 | "Party Down" | align=center | ― | align=center | 19 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | |
| "Let Me Be the One, Baby" | align=center | ― | align=center | 95 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Color Her Sunshine | |
| "Shake It, Shake It" | align=center | ― | align=center | 60 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1977 | "We Gonna Party Tonight" | align=center | ― | align=center | 49 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Havin' a House Party |
| "We Gonna Have a House Party" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "What You Gonna Do After the Party" | align=center | ― | align=center | 40 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1978 | "All American Funkathon" | align=center | ― | align=center | 62 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | In Tune |
| "Paradise" | align=center | ― | align=center | 74 | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| "Come On and Dance with Me" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1979 | "Everybody Needs Money" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Midnight Dancer |
| "Kelly Green" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | ||
| 1982 | "In and Out" | align=center | ― | align=center | 55 | align=center | 29 | align=center | 51 | In and Out |
| 1985 | "Keep on Jammin'" | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | align=center | 73 | Making a Game Out of Love |
| "The Glow" | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | Making a Game Out of Love and The Last Dragon: Original Soundtrack Album | |
| 1991 | "I Choose You" | align=center | ― | align=center | — | align=center | ― | align=center | ― | The Mack |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||