Black Merda
| Black Merda | |
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Black Merda in 1969 (clockwise from left: Anthony Hawkins, VC L. Veasey, Charles Hawkins, Tyrone Hite)
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Detroit |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1968–1975, 2005–present |
| Associated acts | Soul Agents |
| Website | www |
| Members |
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| Past members | Tyrone Hite |
Black Merda (US /blæk ˈmərdər/ BLAK MURD-ər) is an American rock band from Detroit, active from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s and reuniting in 2005. The core band members are guitarist/vocalist Anthony Hawkins, bassist/guitarist/vocalist VC L. Veasey, and guitarist/vocalist Charles Hawkins, plus original drummer/vocalist Tyrone Hite. Hite was a native of Detroit; the Hawkins brothers and Veasey were all born in Mississippi and came of age in Detroit.
Anthony Hawkins and VC Lamont Veasey (also known as VC L Veasey, Veesee L Veasey, The Mighty V!) met in elementary school. Hawkins and Tyrone Hite met in high school in Detroit in the early 1960s, and all worked as session and backup musicians in the Detroit scene in the following years. Hawkins and Veasey worked frequently as session musicians for companies such as Fortune Records, Golden World Studios, and producer Don Davis, while Hite worked in sessions originally as a singer before taking up the drums. Many singers and musicians would show up at the Hawkins house where most of the rehearsals would take place. Singers that would go on to great stardom, such as " Stevie Wonder " Dave Ruffin " " Gwen Owens " " Edwin Starr " etc. Mrs. Hawkins house was always filled with music almost every day of the week doing the early years of the group that would become known as Black Merda. Hawkins, Veasey, and Hite originally performed together as the Impacts, then as the Soul Agents backing up Edwin Starr, Gene Chandler, Wilson Pickett, The Spinners, The Artistics, Billy Butler, The Chi-Lites, Joe Tex, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations, and other soul/R&B acts affiliated with Motown and Brunswick Records. The Impacts were hired as the backing band for the 1965 single "Agent Double-O Soul" by Edwin Starr. Starr took them on as his permanent backing unit and dubbed them the Soul Agents. A horn section consisting of Victor Stubblefield and Gus Hawkins worked with the group periodically during this period. By 1967 the Soul Agents had appeared on the subsequent Starr singles "Twenty Five Miles" and the seminal "War". Hawkins and Veasey (who had been writing songs together since they were 14 years old) also scored as songwriters in 1967 with "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert Ward (produced by Don Davis), the B-side of his hit "My Love Is Strictly Reserved For You".
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