Grammy-winning songwriter filming music video in Detroit

Allee Willis, her crew to travel around city to shoot music video about Detroit

DETROIT – What are dozens of Henry Ford Hospital employees doing on a Thursday afternoon?

They're singing, they're dancing, they're making a music video.

The song is called, "The D, a love song to Detroit." The songwriter is Grammy Award Winner Allee Willis, who's had a life-long love affair with her hometown.

"I'm doing it because I was born in Detroit and I have never lost my love for it," Willis said. "It's the greatest city that ever was. It's got the most soulful people in the world."

So why not film the music video in Detroit and get Detroiters to sing it? Willis, her cowriter Andre Alexander, and their crew from New York and Los Angeles, have been going around town for two weeks, telling the story of a city through its people.

"In the midst of all the media depictions and documentaries showing squalor; that's a city that doesn't exist anymore," Willis said. "There's a new Detroit growing up in the midst of the old Detroit."

So far, the crew has been to schools, churches, and now to Henry Ford Hospital.

"Its something positive for Detroit, there's so much bad news, we want to be apart of the good news," Wendy Perkinson, a Henry Ford employee, said.

Willis said the plan is to show the world how great of a place Detroit can be.

"Detroit has soul, the proof is in the pudding," LA-based director Daniel Franzese said. "People here smile and give their love back to Detroit."

There crew will be in Detroit through the end of the month. There are two open calls coming up in which anyone can show up and be apart of the video:

-- Sept. 22 at Heidelberg Project
-- Sept. 25 at the Detroit Historical Museum

Tweet the crew @wesingtheD if you have ideas. Follow them for more information.

The video will be released online in the near future. Proceeds from the song and the video will come back to the city.

Willis is most known for writing hits such as "September" by Earth Wind and Fire, and "I'll be there for you," the theme from "Friends."


About the Author:

Jamie anchors sports coverage on Local 4 News Saturdays at 6 & 11 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m., in addition to hosting Sports Final Edition.