Word has arrived of the passing of The Esquires' Alvis Moorer.
Moorer, who was a member of the seminal Milwaukee soul group, which scored big in 1967 with "Get On Up," was in the group with his sister Betty and brothers Gilbert, who died in 2008, and Perry, who passed away in 1996.
Alvis Moorer died on Aug. 21. A funeral was held this morning at Christian Faith Fellowship Church, 8633 W. Good Hope Rd.
The group formed at North Division High School in the late 1950s, but it wasn't until The Esquires relocated to Chicago in the mid-'60s that they found success, scoring with their Bunky Records' debut, "Get On Up," which peaked at No., 11 on the singles chart.
A few more minor hits followed and the group charted again in 1976 with a remake of its first hit, re-titled, "Get On Up '76."
There is an overview of the history of The Esquires – which also included Sam Pace, Harvey Scales, Shawn Taylor and others during its life-span – here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
