Shorty Longsinger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producerMotown singer of "Here Comes the Judge" and co-writer of "Devil with a Blue Dress", who drowned in a boating accident on the Detroit River in 1969.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 20 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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230 people · 4/5 page
Clear filtersShorty Longsinger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producerMotown singer of "Here Comes the Judge" and co-writer of "Devil with a Blue Dress", who drowned in a boating accident on the Detroit River in 1969.
Sports · born 1944Denny McLainbaseball pitcherTigers right-hander who won 31 games in 1968, the last major-leaguer to win 30 in a season, taking the MVP and Cy Young awards for the world champions.Nicholas NixonphotographerDetroit-born large-format photographer best known for The Brown Sisters, his annual portrait of his wife and her three sisters since 1975.
Film & TV · born 1946Suzanne de Passeproducer, record and television executiveHarlem-raised executive who joined Motown in Detroit as Berry Gordy's creative assistant, shaped the Jackson 5's act and later ran Motown Productions.
Music · born 1944Scherrie PaynesingerDetroit-born singer, sister of Freda Payne, who led the Invictus group the Glass House and then co-led the Supremes from 1973 to 1977.
Mickey Redmondice hockey right winger, TV color commentatorFirst Red Wing to score 50 goals in a season, who became the team's long-serving TV analyst known for his colorful sayings.Dennis Rowlandjazz singer, actorDetroit-born jazz singer who worked as a singer and actor in the city before Count Basie hired him in 1977 as his band vocalist for seven years.
Sports · 1946–2015Charlie SandersAmerican football tight end, broadcaster, scoutHall of Fame tight end who played his whole career with the Lions (1968–1977) and served the franchise for decades afterward as broadcaster, coach and scout.
Music · 1944–1980Georgeanna TillmansingerInkster-born original member of the Marvelettes, heard on "Please Mr. Postman", who left the group because of illness and died at 35.
Music · 1943–2021Wanda YoungsingerInkster-born lead singer of the Marvelettes from the mid-1960s, heard on "Don't Mess with Bill" and "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game".
Music · 1944–2023Katherine AndersonsingerInkster-raised co-founder of the Marvelettes who sang with the group through its Motown run and later mentored young Detroit singers.
Sports · born 1945Lem BarneyAmerican football cornerback and return specialistHall of Fame Lions cornerback of 1967–1977 who, with teammate Mel Farr, can be heard on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On".Charles Baxternovelist, short-story writer, essayist, teacherNovelist of The Feast of Love who began his university teaching career at Wayne State in Detroit and set much of his Michigan-rooted fiction nearby.Faruq Z. Beyjazz saxophonist, composer, poetDetroit saxophonist and composer who led Griot Galaxy, the city's leading avant-garde band of the late 1970s and 1980s.Beth Brantwriter, poet, editorDetroit-born Mohawk writer who edited A Gathering of Spirit, the first anthology of Native American women's writing, and wrote Mohawk Trail.Dennis Coffeyguitarist, producerDetroit guitarist who brought wah-wah and fuzz to Norman Whitfield's Temptations records and scored the 1971 instrumental hit "Scorpio".Jimmy DeSanaphotographerDetroit-born photographer who became a key figure of New York's East Village punk and No Wave art scene of the late 1970s and 1980s.Steve Farmerguitarist, songwriter, lyricistDetroit-born guitarist of the Amboy Dukes who wrote the lyrics of the 1968 psychedelic hit “Journey to the Center of the Mind” with Ted Nugent.Chuck HughesAmerican football wide receiverLions receiver who collapsed and died on the field at Tiger Stadium in 1971, the only NFL player to die during a game; the Lions retired his No. 85.Jim Leylandbaseball managerHall of Fame manager who began his career in the Tigers' farm system and returned to lead Detroit to American League pennants in 2006 and 2012.Betty McGlownsingerDetroit singer and founding member of the Primettes, the girl group that became the Supremes.
Music · 1947–2024Paul Schoenfieldcomposer, pianistDetroit-born composer and pianist who blended classical music with folk, Jewish and popular styles, best known for the piano trio Café Music.Frank Wilsonsongwriter, record producer, singerMotown producer who moved from the label's Los Angeles office to Detroit, became a key hitmaker after Holland–Dozier–Holland left, and recorded the ultra-rare "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)".
Music · 1949–2016Allan Barnesjazz saxophonist, flutist, composerDetroit saxophonist and flutist of Donald Byrd's Blackbyrds, heard on "Walking in Rhythm," who spent most of his career as a Detroit bandleader and educator.Jim Devellanohockey executiveMike Ilitch's first hire as Red Wings general manager in 1982, who drafted Steve Yzerman and built the foundation of four Stanley Cup teams.
Theatre & dance · born 1940
Garth Faganchoreographer, dancer, company directorJamaican-born choreographer who spent the 1960s dancing and studying in Detroit before founding Garth Fagan Dance and winning a Tony for The Lion King.
Sports · born 1943John Hillerbaseball relief pitcherTigers relief pitcher whose comeback from a near-fatal 1971 heart attack to set a single-season saves record in 1973 became one of baseball's most celebrated stories of resilience.
Peter Karmanos Jr.software entrepreneur, hockey ownerDetroit-born son of Greek immigrant restaurant owners who co-founded the software giant Compuware, built amateur hockey in Detroit and owned the Carolina Hurricanes.Cub Kodasinger, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, music writerDetroit-born rocker who wrote and sang Brownsville Station's 1973 hit "Smokin' in the Boys Room" and later became a respected blues writer and record compiler.Laura Leesoul and gospel singer, songwriterDetroit-raised soul singer of "Women's Love Rights" and "Rip Off" on Hot Wax, who began in the Meditation Singers gospel group in Della Reese's place.
Sports · born 1948Ron LeFlorebaseball player, center fielderEast-side Detroiter who went from Jackson State Prison to center field at Tiger Stadium in 1974, a story told in the TV film One in a Million.
Music · born 1945Jim McCartyguitaristDetroit blues-rock guitarist of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Cactus and the Rockets, whom Ted Nugent calls his biggest early influence.
Science & invention · born 1948
Mani Menonurologist, surgeonUrologist who made Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit the birthplace of robotic cancer surgery as founding director of its Vattikuti Urology Institute.
Science & invention · born 1943Bob Waterstonbiologist, geneticistGenome scientist who, with John Sulston, led the sequencing of the first animal genome and was a leader of the Human Genome Project; born in Detroit.
Music · 1943–2026Rosalind AshfordsingerDetroit-born soprano and original member of Martha and the Vandellas, heard on "Heat Wave", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run".General Bakerautoworker, labor organizer, revolutionary activistDetroit autoworker who co-founded the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in the late 1960s.G. C. CameronsingerLead singer of the Spinners' 1970 Motown hit "It's a Shame" who stayed with Motown as a solo artist and later sang with the Temptations.Jacky Clark Chisholmsinger, songwriterEldest of the Clark Sisters, the Detroit gospel group that became the best-selling female gospel act in history.Kenny Coxjazz pianist, bandleader, label founderDetroit pianist whose Contemporary Jazz Quintet recorded two Blue Note albums in 1968–1969 and who founded the city's Strata label and later the Guerilla Jam Band.
Music · 1943–2012Michael DavisbassistBassist of the MC5, a Wayne State art student who joined the band in 1964 and played on Kick Out the Jams, recorded live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom.
Music · 1945–1982Rusty DaysingerDetroit rock singer who fronted the Amboy Dukes and the hard-driving blues-rock band Cactus, and later tried to revive the band Detroit.
Sports · 1944–2015Mel FarrAmerican football running back, car dealerLions running back of 1967–1973 who became Detroit's famous caped TV car dealer, "Mel Farr Superstar", heading the nation's largest Black-owned business in the late 1990s.Shirley Loveoperatic mezzo-sopranoDetroit-born mezzo-soprano, a Wayne State graduate who sang at the Metropolitan Opera for twenty consecutive seasons from 1963.Russell PeckcomposerDetroit-born orchestral composer whose music joined Mozart and Beethoven with the Motown sound he grew up with; best known for The Glory and the Grandeur.
Music · 1948–2020Alto ReedsaxophonistDetroit-born saxophonist of Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band, whose horn lines on “Turn the Page” and “Old Time Rock and Roll” are part of Detroit's soundtrack.
Music · 1948–2024Dennis Thompsondrummer“Machine Gun” Thompson, the Detroit-born drummer of the MC5, whose rapid-fire attack powered the band and who was its last surviving original member.Philippé WynnesingerCincinnati-born lead voice of the Spinners' 1970s hits "How Could I Let You Get Away" and "The Rubberband Man", who began singing gospel in Detroit.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
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