Tyrone D. Fettson / Tyrone D. Branch (October 3rd, 1937 – February 9th, 2005) was an American soul singer from Greenville, Mississippi. Initally moving with his father to Saginaw, Michigan, Tyrone moved to Chicago in 1959. He started working as a valet for blues artist Freddie King while also gigging at local clubs. Initially discovered by record executive & musican Harold Burrage, he recorded for a few of the record labels in Chicago before being noticed by Brunswick record executive Carl Davis. Tyrone was signed by him to new label, Dakar Records. After a suggestion by Carl Davis to change his name, he adopted the record executive’s last name as his own.

Thanks to the major-label distribution deal that Dakar Records had with Atlantic Records, Tyrone started to rake in the hits. Initially released as the B-side on the single of “A Woman Needs To Be Loved”, “Can I Change My Mind” quickly became the favored track on the single thanks to the softer singing style Davis employed on the track. The latter not only topped the R&B charts for 3 weeks, but also reached $5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His best success was yet to come in 1970 when he delivered “Turn Back The Hands Of Time”. The song topped the R&B chart, peaked at #3 on the Pop chart, and was certified gold by the RIAA after selling 1 million copies.

Although he never reached the same amount of charting success later in his career, Davis would create several more well-received singles. A few of these are “Turning Point”, “I Wish It Was Me”, “Kiss You”, “In The Mood”, and “Sure Wasn’t Me”. “In The Mood” in particular has been a popular sample within the Hip Hop community, being sampled over 35 times to date. The most notable usage of this sample can be seen in “All For The Money” by MC Eiht Featuring Compton’s Most Wanted.

During his time at Dakar Records, Mr. Davis would record 7 albums for the label. He later migrated to Columbia Records, where he recorded the same amount. By the time of his death via a stroke in 2005, he released 30 total albums across 9 different labels. He left behind an expanisve catalog of music that will be listened to and enjoyed for generations to come.