William Weatherspoon began singing in 1956 with a local vocal group, the Tornados, led by Charles Sutton, formerly of The Midnighters.
The group split up in 1960, and, after a spell in the US military, Weatherspoon began working as a songwriter and producer for the Correc-Tone label in Detroit.
[2] After that label folded, he began working for Motown, and paired up with fellow songwriter James Dean to write a series of hits, mostly for junior or relatively minor artists on the company's roster.
[3][4] With Dean and arranger Paul Riser, Weatherspoon wrote "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", a US no.6 pop hit in 1966, and also co-produced the record with William "Mickey" Stevenson.
They provided several hits for Laura Lee, including "Women's Love Rights" and "Rip Off", and "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper" for The Flaming Ember.