Denver R&B singer Marvin “Henchi” Graves, who was granted his wish for a first-hand view of the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals last month, died Monday. He was 64 and was fighting cancer.
Graves was best known as one of the lead singers and co-founder of the popular Freddi-Henchi Band, which toured and recorded extensively in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
“He was an energetic, outgoing person who was a lot of fun to be around,” his younger brother Richard Graves said Monday night. “He won’t ever be forgotten by anyone he ever met.”
Funeral plans have not been finalized.
A lifelong basketball fan, Graves was on his deathbed at HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties when he told his doctor he would love to go see the Nuggets play in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
Dan Cook, the owner of four Swis Tire and Automotive Services shops in Denver, offered his suite. The Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 120-101 that night.
Graves first made his mark as an athlete. He was an All-American wrestler at Arizona State University who came up just short, because of an injury, of making the U.S. Olympic team, his brother said.
Graves co-founded the rhythm, blues and funk band Freddi-Henchi and the Soulsetters with Fred Gowdy in Phoenix in 1966.
Eventually renamed The Freddi-Henchi Band, the group was known for its funky original music and slick choreography and was a headline act at clubs and arenas up and down the Front Range for decades.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, it incorrectly described suite donor Dan Cook’s business. Cook owns four Swis Tire and Automotive Services stores in Denver.
