Otha Leon Haywood (February 11, 1942 – April 5, 2016) was an American funk and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Born in Houston, he listened to the blues as a child and started playing piano at the age of three.
[1] In his teens, he performed with a local group and worked as an accompanist to blues musician, Guitar Slim.
[1] In the early 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely.
[1][2] Haywood was also part of two session bands organized by Los Angeles disc jockey Magnificent Montague which issued the instrumental hits "Hole in the Wall" (R&B No.
Two singles from that source were given a UK release at the time on the Decca distributed Vocalion label but gathered few sales – "Skate a While" and "Ain't No Use".
[6] Haywood is credited with writing the 1981 hit "She's a Bad Mama Jama" by Carl Carlton, which he produced in his own studio.
From the 1980s, he produced blues albums by Jimmy McCracklin, Clay Hammond, Ronnie Lovejoy, Buddy Ace and others on his own Evejim Records label.