We are extremely sad to pass on the news of the passing of Winzell Kelly, a three decade member of the legendary group The Dramatics, and musical royalty in the Motor City. He was 71. Tributes have poured in all over social media upon the news of Winzell’s passing, many of which are on his Facebook Page.
A Detroit native, Kelly began playing both bass guitar and saxophone as a teenager, while also singing second tenor in his church choir. As a young man he performed around the Detroit area, and was part of the short lived group Five Special (“Why Leave Us Alone”). He also performed with the Floaters and a latter day version of the Capitols before joining the Dramatics in 1994. He recording on all of that group’s albums after that and toured constantly around the world.
Of course, The Dramatics were one of the most popular R&B vocal groups of the second half of the 20th Century, with string of monster hits that included “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” “In The Rain,” “Toast To the Fool,” “Fell For You” and dozens of others that spanned the 1970s right into the 1990s, when they earned a second generation of fans for their collaborations with Snoop Dogg.
While Kelly focused most of the last three decades of his life on his work with the Dramatics, he also wrote and produced outside of the group. His solo release, Love Connection, came out in 2009 and he followed it up with Split Personality in 2012.
In 2008 I had the pleasure of presenting the SoulTracks Lifetime Achievement Award to Winzell and the rest of The Dramatics at a ceremony in downtown Detroit.. He is pictured in the red suit on the left. It was a well-deserved honor for one of the great acts in the City’s long musical history.
Winzell Kelly was an extremely talented singer and a longtime Detroit favorite. He will be greatly missed.
By Chris Rizik
