Tyrone Davis, one of America’s most popular soul singers, was born near Leland on May 4, 1938, and spent part of his youth in Leland after attending school in Arcola and living for periods in Saginaw and Detroit before relocating to Chicago in the late 1950s. There he worked as a valet for Freddie King and at an iron castings plant alongside Otis Clay, performed in South and West Side clubs and taverns, and recorded several singles as “Tyrone the Wonder Boy” before his million-selling “Can I Change My Mind” reached the charts at the end of 1968. From 1969 to 1988 he placed forty-three singles on the national rhythm and blues charts, including the number one hits “Can I Change My Mind,” “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” and “Turning Point,” and from 1969 through 2004 he also placed twenty-eight albums on the Billboard R&B or blues charts, with seven crossing into the pop charts. Although his romantic soul style was not traditional blues, he was widely regarded as an important figure in the blues world, often appearing with artists such as Little Milton, Bobby Bland, and Albert King, while his songs became staples for blues bands in the Delta, Chicago, and across the country. Influenced by singers including Bland, Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, and Little Willie John, and remembered for singing gospel with his family and rehearsing in Leland as a teenager, Davis became a leading figure on the national rhythm and blues circuit and remained a preeminent chitlin circuit performer until his death in Hinsdale, Illinois, on February 9, 2005. His career, along with those of Otis Clay, Willie Clayton, and other Delta-born vocalists, reflected the Delta’s importance as a birthplace not only of traditional blues artists but also of soul singers.