Abrim "Abe" Tilmon Jr. (January 12, 1945 – July 6, 1982), was a soul and disco singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known the lead singer of the Detroit Emeralds.
Abrim was originally part of the Tilmon Brothers Gospel group, who comprised of Cleofas Tilmon, Aaron Mapson, Raymond Ellis, Ivory Tilmon and Abrim Tilmon Sr. Abrim worked for the US.Postal Service as a mail distribution machine operator for five years before beginning a career as a songwriter. Along with his three brothers, Ivory, Raymond and Cleophus, they decided to form a vocal harmony group in the early sixties. This group the brothers called The Emeralds.
They spent the first few years playing in venues near their home in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eventually, though, two of The Emeralds decided the time had come for the group to spread their wings and move to Detroit. Two of the brothers, Raymond and Cleophus, decided they didn’t want to relocate to Detroit. This presented a problem for Ivory and Abrim Tilmon. Fortunately, their friend James Mitchell agreed to join The Emeralds and the trio made the move to Detroit. In 1968, The Emeralds decided to change the group’s name to The Detroit Emeralds. This just happened to coincide with their first hit single on Ric-Tic Records, with "Show Time."
This was the first of a trio of singles The Detroit Emeralds released for Ric Tic. Soon, Shades Down and (I’m An Ordinary Man) Take Me The Way I Am followed and these three singles marked the start of a ten-year musical journey for The Detroit Emeralds.Two years later, The Detroit Emeralds’ career began in earnest. Before that, their career stalled. Having released three singles for Ric Tic, suddenly, the label was taken over by Motown. For The Detroit Emeralds, that was a disaster. Like so many other Ric Tic artists, The Detroit Emeralds were lost in the Motown machine. Soon, The Detroit Emerald realised that they had no future at Motown.
Fortunately in 1970, they joined another Detroit-based label, Westbound Records. When touring in Memphis, Tennessee, they recorded some demo tracks at the Hi recording studios, run by top producer Willie Mitchell, to which they added vocals and strings back in Detroit. This approach worked and brought them another hit, "If I Lose Your Love", which was followed by a run of successes including "Do Me Right", "You Want It, You Got It", and "Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms)" which all made the US R&B Top 10, while the latter also reached number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in 1972.
The song for which they are now best remembered, "Feel the Need in Me", reached number 22 US R&B in 1973, and a new longer version four years later also charted. The original track made the top five in the UK Singles Chart in 1973, and the later production also made the UK chart in 1977 (number 12). "You Want It You Got It" was re-released in the UK as a follow-up to the initial "Feel the Need in Me", also reaching the UK Top 20 in 1973.
By 1974, the group was falling apart and, at one point, there were two outfits using the name. Abe Tilmon formed one new group using the Detroit Emeralds' name, whilst James Mitchell, along with Marvin Willis, wrote for another group, The Floaters – Paul Mitchell of the Floaters being James's brother. James Mitchell, Ivory Tilmon and Marvin Willis continued touring as the Detroit Emeralds, along with several bands, background vocalists (including Gerald Ervin, first cousin to James Mitchell), and musicians over the years that included The Flaming Emeralds, (Arthur (Buster) Marbury on drums, Kenny Goodman, and Joseph (Jotown) Slanda on guitars and vocals.)
From 1980 until his death in 1982, Abrim had gone back to his gospel roots and was writing and performing in churches with Gospel Unlimited and the Price Singers. He died on July 6, 1982, at the age of 37, in his Southfield, Michigan home of a heart attack. It was said a reunion of the group was being planned at the time.
(Edited mainly from Wikipedia)