'It's home.' O'Jays farewell tour rolling into Canton for special night

Walter Williams Sr. was severely ill with COVID and had been admitted into a Las Vegas hospital at the onset of the pandemic.

Sunrise Hospital was at capacity. The O'Jays singer had contracted COVID-19 around Christmas, and then fell into a diabetic coma.

"I stayed in that coma for about a week-and-a-half and I woke up," the 79-year-old Williams recalled. "I needed dialysis because my kidneys had stopped working, and they took me to a ward, and I remember the guy who was pushing my bed asked the other guy who opened the door, 'Is this a warm body room or is this a cold body room?,' and they said, 'This is a warm body room,' and they pushed me in there.

"When I became conscious, I remember a priest coming in and giving me last rites," said Williams, who was hospitalized for more than a month. "And that frightened me, and I asked the nurse if I was going to be all right, and she told me I would be fine."

More:O'Jays and 'Love Train' farewell tour making Canton stop with Gladys Knight in September

A serious tone filled the Canton native's voice during a telephone interview last week as he recalled his bout with the coronavirus. But as the conversation shifted to music and Saturday's Canton homecoming concert, he spoke only with vigor and pep.

The O'Jays will be headlining a show on the "Last Stop On The Love Train" tour at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium presented by the Hall of Fame Village. Fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Gladys Knight is the opening act scheduled for 7 p.m.

Recording and performing since the 1960s, the R&B vocal group brings a legacy of seven Billboard top 20 songs to their hometown, including the enduring hits "Love Train," "For the Love of Money" and "Backstabbers." The O'Jays earned 10 gold albums and nine platinum albums, as well as three Grammy nominations for Best R&B Vocal.

Popular songs also include “Livin’ For The Weekend," "I Love Music," "Forever Mine," “Use Ta Be My Girl," "Put Your Hands Together" and "Time to Get Down."

'I want it to be a special night.'

"I think there will be a lot of energy," Williams said of returning to where The O'Jays started. "And I'm going to just try to soak it up because I still have really good friends there and loved ones, and I'm looking forward to it.

"I want it to be a special night for me as well as them," Williams added. "And I think it will because it's Canton and because it's home."

The singer, however, will be the only original member performing in the Canton show. Eddie Levert Sr. was diagnosed with COVID while rehearsing for the tour earlier this summer, and he's still recovering.

More O'Jays:People travel near and far to attend O’Jays family reunion

Williams, longtime O'Jays vocalist Eric Nolan Grant and Nick Davis will be fronting the group while supported by instrumentalists and backup singers. Davis is handling Levert's parts, and based on comments posted with YouTube concert videos, fans believe he's doing a stellar job.

"We are coming with it," Williams promised of the performance. "And we have been coming with it, so we are going to make it happen."

Levert had been hospitalized with COVID "because he was short on oxygen," Williams said. "They really had to give him a lot of oxygen ― he had COVID pneumonia."

"He's been struggling to get back," Williams said. "He said if he gets out of bed to go to the kitchen, he gets tired. Management said he has a therapist and vocal coach to try to get his voice in real good shape so he can come back."

Levert recently updated fans on his health in a Facebook post.

"I am recovering from COVID pneumonia," he wrote. "It was really bad. I'm fortunate to have made it."

On July 30, he also mentioned COVID on his Facebook page. "COVID is nothing to play with," he said. "It (affects) your entire body, legs, arms, voice, everything. Only God can save you. Stay in his good (graces)..."

Farewell tour will be a long ride

Williams said his own recovery hasn't been easy.

"I've really had to work with a (physical) therapist and on my own, just strengthening my body again, and I still have work to do," he said. "I think I'm stage worthy now. I've done a lot of shows, and they've been successful, and I'm really close to being back (fully)."

Due to Levert's illness, some previous concert dates were canceled. However, Williams said the tour is being extended.

"I think we are probably going to stretch this out in two or three years ... and we'll end the career, and it will be the last time the love train will ride," Williams said. "A lot of the dates we've played, we'll probably play again with (Levert)."

"Singing is about breathing and breathing properly so you make the notes on time and in key," he said. "So he's got work to do ... (and) we're looking forward to next year. We're looking forward to any moment (Levert) can come back."

For the moment, however, Williams is focused on the upcoming Canton performance.

Adding Gladys Knight to the bill makes it even better, Williams said, noting The O'Jays have toured with her in the past.

Knight, formerly of Gladys Knight & The Pips, is known for the songs, "Midnight Train to Georgia," "Neither One of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)," "Love Overboard" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine."

"I fight for my life every time I have to perform with her," Williams said with laughter. "She's the ultimate professional; it's been a great tour when she's on the dates."

"We've toured with her and it's always been fantastic," Williams said. "And I'm looking for no less than that in Canton. Certainly, we're coming with it, and she always does, so it's going to be good."

From McKinley High School to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Warmth filled his voice as he spoke of the singing group's ties to Canton.

"Canton is home, it's always been home," Williams said. "They are the reason we persisted in our attempt to be in this music business. They supported us, and I was born at Aultman Hospital on Aug. 25 of 1943."

Levert was born in Alabama before moving to Canton. Other group members also walked the halls of McKinley High School.

"Everybody ended up in Canton, and getting together one day at McKinley High School during the finals, the exams, we thought we had something special and worked it from there," Williams said.

"We lost a few along the way for personal reasons," he added of group members. "And we continued and thank God we became a success. Yeah, it's special. Canton is special. Canton will always be home no matter where else we live."

First performing as The Triumphs and then The Mascots, the group partnered with the famed songwriting team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff to help popularize what became known as Philly Soul.

More O'Jays:Fans come for benefit concert, discover Canton as a bonus

Williams also credited the late Cholly Atkins, a noted choreographer for acclaimed artists, including The Miracles and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

"He got with us right after Backstabbers in 1972 and he really whipped us into shape," Williams recounted. "We used to watch 'The Dean Martin Show,' the Ding-a-ling girls ... 'The Hullaballoo' ... and we used to steal the dance steps and make up our own.

"And Cholly Adkins came along, and he taught us about all those 52 steps you do in dancing, and he was no joke," Williams continued. "He was also a talented choreographer in Motown with The Spinners, The Four Tops and The Temptations."

Adkins had a credo for working the stage.

"When people leave their show going home or going wherever they are going, they are talking about you no matter who else was on the show," Williams said. "He said, 'That's what I want, and that's what I want for us, and we're going to be hard on you.'

"... I hated him at first, but I ended up loving him because he was the truth."

Current and former O'Jays members inducted into the rock hall are Williams, Levert, Sammy Strain, Bobby Massey and the late William Powell.

"Their velvety, lush, yet funk-tinged sound establishes them as some of soul music’s finest," the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame says in the band's induction entry.

'This is the last time in our career the love training is going to ride.'

One song clearly stands out as the group's premier hit ― "Love Train."

"It's the biggest song in our career, and it was out probably a week-and-a-half or two weeks and it sold 2 million copies," he said of the No. 1 Billboard smash of 1973.

"It's still in the show and it's a big number because now it kind of expresses our part of the business as far as who we are and what we try to accomplish," Williams explained. "And this is the last time in our career that the love train is going to ride, and it's coming through our neighborhood ... and we want you to get on.

"Now it's significant because it's crossing the country and still having the message, and the message is what sold the song," he said. "It's a big fat message, and the Bible speaks of it all the time. It's about love, and when you have that, you have peace and everything else falls into place."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP

If you go

What: The O'Jays "Last Stop On The Love Train" tour featuring special guest Gladys Knight

When: 7 p.m. Saturday (Canton Symphony Orchestra performs at 6 p.m.)

Where: Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, 1835 Harrison Ave. NW (next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame)

Tickets: Starting at $59 and available online at www.hofvillage.com/ and by phone at 330-617-8447 or 1 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at the ForeverLawn Sports Complex box office at the Hall of Fame Village, 2333 17th St. NW.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: O'Jays farewell tour stopping in Canton