Willie Henderson was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1941 and moved to Chicago during his childhood. He became a musician, learning to play baritone sax, and studied music at Crane Junior College in Chicago, tutored by James Mack. He then started working with Carl Davis as an arranger, before being appointed studio musical director at Brunswick/Dakar in 1968. He played on recordings by many of the Brunswick artists, including Barbara Acklin, the Chi-Lites and Jackie Wilson. Henderson also worked as an arranger and producer.
His first sessions as producer were in 1968 with Dakar Records artists Floyd Smith, Tyrone Davis and Major Lance. His first big success came in 1969 with Tyrone Davis’ recording of “Can I Change My Mind”, released on the Dakar label. The song sold more than a million and a half copies! Not a bad start. Henderson continued working with Tyrone Davis on subsequent releases. In 1970, Henderson worked with Davis as producer on the “Turn Back The Hands Of Time ” album, on which he also shared arrangement duties with Tom Washington.
He also worked with Brunswick artists including Young Holt Unlimited, Gene Chandler and Erma Franklin.
In addition to his studio activities, Henderson found time to be a recording artist in his own right. In the early seventies, Brunswick released a number of instrumental singles and a couple of albums which highlight Henderson’s smooth sax sound. “Funky Chicken (Part 1)” entered the charts, reaching number twenty-two on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and number ninety-one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. The single was included on the album “Soulful Football” (1970) by Willie Henderson and the Soul Explosions.
Henderson continued working closely with Tyrone Davis, producing a series of albums, while adding Jackie Wilson and the Artistics to his clients. Henderson left Brunswick in 1973 and became a freelance producer, working once more with Barbara Acklin at Capitol Records. From 1969 he had directed the recordings of Acklin’s songs. Now, he took over as producer for Acklin’s album “A Place In The Sun”, with James Mack responsible for arranging all the songs.
Henderson has continued working and performing into the second decade of this century, having worked on hundreds of recording projects. He has been a key figure in the development of Chicago Soul.
