Jesse "Black Wolf" Bilal, frontman for Milwaukee's Kings Go Forth, remembered as 'actual OG'

To see a performance of Milwaukee funk and soul band Kings Go Forth in the mid-2000s felt more like a church revival than a music concert.

The 10-piece band's high energy, coupled with the soulful vocals and electric performance of its frontman, known as Black Wolf, frenzied the audience, keeping them on their feet and wanting more.

Jesse “Black Wolf” Bilal died on May 21. He was one of two people who died in separate house fires within a 24 hour span during the May 20 weekend. He was 68.

Bandmate Dave Cusma attributed showmanship to Black Wolf’s time as a sanctified preacher at a very young age.

“He actually was an amazing frontman and turned the shows from a soul show almost into a revival,” said Cusma who played trombone in the band’s horn section. “He put it all out there on stage. At the end of the show, he would literally be exhausted.”

That charismatic stage presence endeared him to audiences wherever the group performed, especially in Europe. Though the oldest member of the band and battling some health challenges, Black Wolf didn’t hold back even with a grinding tour schedule hitting multiple cities, Cusma said.

“He definitely brought the performance to a higher level. It was about intensity,” Cusma added.

"To tell you the truth, I think we're breaking the sound barrier," Black Wolf said in a 2010 interview with the Journal Sentinel. "People have been a long time without rhythm and blues. It's not mechanical. It's blood and guts and sweat." 

Born Jesse Davis, the singer changed his name to Jesse Bilal when he converted to Islam. He was best known as the lead singer for Kings Go Forth, a Milwaukee soul band that generated a lot of buzz during a soul revival wave in 2010. That’s when the group released its lone album, “The Outsiders Are Back,” on Luaka Bop, a label founded by David Byrne of Talking Heads.

The group disbanded shortly after its European tour in 2011.

Andy Noble, a founding member of the band, remembered Black Wolf as a skillful lyricist. He knew how to rhyme a sentence, compose a verse, and structure a harmony that brought a quality and sound of classic soul to a band comprised mostly of White and Latino guys, Noble said.

“He is an actual OG,” said Noble, who has been immersed in soul music since childhood. His mother managed Harvey Scales for 10 years.

Noble also operated a record store on Center Street, called Lotus Land that specialized in Black music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

“I really didn’t want to be this white kid, who was trying to do this old soul music ... and just trying to pass it off as some version of an authentic thing,” he said. “I always wanted to have a guy who had lived through that era to be involved in it.”

Black Wolf’s soulful style can be traced to his early days singing in the doo wop group The Essentials in the 1970s.  Even the group’s look came from Black Wolf’s influence.

A master tailor, Black Wolf designed a number of the band’s tunic shirts that gave them a distinctive flare on stage.  He also designed his own stage costumes, which Cusma called “dramatic.”

“He was a very creative person,” Cusma said.

It was at a chance meeting at Noble’s record store in 2004 between Black Wolf and Noble that laid the foundation for the band.

The two struck up a conversation about soul music and a musical partnership was born. The first iteration of Kings Go Forth was not a soul/funk band. It started as a reggae ska band.

Fate later intervened. While learning reggae tunes, Noble threw in songs that had soul/funk sound. It was those songs that resonated with everyone. Soon, Noble and Black Wolf began collaborating on lyrics.

“The soul stuff kind of came out better. It really had a little something extra,” Noble said.

Brad Anthony Bernard, who performs as B. Wyzdom, hopes that same magic rubs off on his debut album, tentatively called American Dreamer, a project that was nine years in the making. The project would have been Black Wolf’s producing debut, Bernard said.

“It would have redefined him as a producer and not limiting him to just being a lead singer,” said Bernard, who met Black Wolf through a mutual friend in 2011.

He, too, lauded Black Wolf’s songwriting acumen, saying that the artist “took him to school.” The lesson he learned is that music should uplift and heal.

“The music he created around my melodies and lyrics sounded nothing like the music he created for himself,” Bernard said. “He wasn’t trying to make me a junior version of himself. He was creating the music that complimented me.”

Milwaukee, he added, lost a great musician.

He was just "pops" to his family

Most knew Black Wolf as a musician and master tailor. For his two daughters, Hannaan Bilal and Whitney Young, he was just “pops.”

“It was cool just seeing him as a creator. It’s cool to see that he’s a talented man. said Bilal, 29. "He’s always been different, and I am the same way. Both my parents are different. They do the oddest things and make it look cool. I'm really proud of that.”

Both called their dad funny, a person who could make anyone smile and feel comfortable.

“He was a dope dad,” said Young, 36, who gave Black Wolf his first grandson, Khabir Bilal, 4.

Their father, they said, was also a teacher, who instilled a sense of self, spirituality and discipline in them. He would often have his “Bill Cosby moments” telling stories that had moral nuggets.

“He was proud of me because of the grown woman I’ve become through his teaching and guidance,” said Young who graduated from Huston-Tillotson University, an Historical Black College and University school, in Austin, Texas with a degree in biology and now works as a licensed pharmacy technician.

"He was very proud of that. I’m glad he knew that before he was called home,” Young said.

Black Wolf is survived by his sister Mary C. Jackson, his partner Faye Young, his daughters, Young and Bilal, and his grandson Khabir "The Boogie" Bilal. He also leaves behind a host of nieces and nephews.

Services are scheduled for Tuesday, June 6, at Paradise Funeral Home, 7625 W Appleton Ave. Family hour begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the funeral (Janazah, an Islamic funeral) at 10 a.m.

A public memorial is planned for a later date.

This story has been updated to include a more complete list of Bilal's survivors.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Soul and Funk band lead singer Black Wolf dead at 68