The Webs

The little island city of Galveston is far better known for baring the brunt of a catastrophic hurricane at the dawn of the previous century than for any entrenched musical scene. The four members of the Webs managed to stick around through nearly a dozen tropical storms- including Hurricane Isaac, which leveled the Cedar Terrace housing project in which several Webs were raised. While still enrolled at Goliad Junior High, Willie cooper followed fellow Cedar Terrace inhabitant Joel "DD" Simpson's lead and joined up with Frank Minor's show band, where he moved from occasional guest to lead singer. Too young to become a fixture on the nightclub scene, Cooper took school talent shows, where, despite his doughy appearance, he stunned classmates with his pitch-perfect Sam Cooke impression. At an intramural event, Cooper's lilting falsetto caught the ears of Booker T. Washington Junior Highers Lionel James and Vincent Hubbard. Cooper's church friend Sanders Antwaine Davis and neighbor Marshall Boxley rounded out the group, then calling itself the Spiders. After discovering the 1950s New Orleans-based doo-wop group of the same name, they went for what must've been the second best: the Webs.