Alvin Cash

Often billed on his biggest hits as Alvin Cash & The Crawlers, Alvin Cash (born: February 15, 1939. died November 21, 1999) was born Alvin Welch in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a graduate of St. Louis's Summers High (also attended by singers Luther Ingram, and Anna Mae Bullock who was better known later as Tina Turner). Cash started his career as a tap dancer and performed with his brother in a group called the Step Brothers. He started singing later, hitting the Chicago scene with his group Alvin Cash and the Registers. Legend has it that Andre Williams saw Alvin and his brothers group performing in the early 60's (as The Crawlers) and had them record a tune, "It's Twine Time", which was a rewrite of a Williams' 1957 hit called "Bacon Fat". The tune became a pop hit in 1965, and while "The Crawlers" proper, i.e. Alvin's brothers, probably did not play on the track, backing band The Nightliters likely did. Soon after the success of the single, The Nightliters changed their name to The Crawlers and began touring with Cash. They appeared on Ed Sullivan and Dick Clark tv shows and their other funky dance hits were "The Funky Washing Machine," "the ali shuffle" and "The Philly Freeze." Cash went solo after a few further singles, and recorded a full-length LP tribute to Muhammad Ali; he also acted in several blaxploitation films, such as Petey Wheatstraw and Black Jack. He continued performing in the Chicago area into the 1990s, and died from ulcer complications in 1999. Singles "Twine Time" (1965) US #14, US R&B #4[2] "The Barracuda" (1965) US #59, US R&B #29 "The Philly Freeze" "Mr. Penguin" "Unwind the Twine" "Keep On Dancing" (1968) US #66, US R&B #14