Funk and soul band,
Commodores, were first formed in 1968 at Tuskegee Institute (now
Tuskegee University) from two former student music groups, the Mystics and the Jays. The new six-man band featured Lionel Richie,
Thomas McClary, and
William King from the Mystics … Richie later described some members of the Mystics as “jazz buffs;” and
Andre Callahan,
Michael Gilbert, and
Milan Williams from the Jays. To choose their new name, King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. “We lucked out,” he remarked with a laugh when later telling this story in a magazine interview. “We almost became
‘The Commodes.’“
After signing with...
