Eddie Willis

Eddie "Chank" Willis (June 3, 1936 – August 20, 2018) was an American soul musician. He played electric guitar and occasionally electric sitar for Motown's in-house studio band, The Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in Grenada, Mississippi, Willis was known for his signature style of muted guitar riffs which added a distinctive tone or "color" to the beat. It often was timed with the snare and on hundreds of hit songs recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. for Motown artists. Among the recordings Willis performed on are "Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes, "The Way You Do the Things You Do" by the Temptations, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Supremes, and "I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder.

Willis' influences included Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, and Albert King. Willis played a Gibson Firebird guitar on most of his early 1960s work and later used a Gibson ES-335. On recordings such as the Supremes' "No Matter What Sign You Are", he performed on a Coral sitar. He accepted an offer from Phil Collins to perform on his album of Motown and 1960s soul classics, Going Back.

Willis died on August 20, 2018, in Gore Springs, Mississippi from complications of polio at the age of 82.^[1]

• Justman, Paul (2002). Standing in the Shadows of Motown (Motion picture). New York: Artisan Entertainment.