Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts ("Hold What You've Got," in 1965, made number five in Billboard)...
His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rap's foundation...
He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the '60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits…
In 1961, he recorded his composition, "Baby You're Right", for Detroit’s Anna Record Label...as well as for the New Orleans “ACE” label…
Later that year, James Brown recorded a cover version, albeit with different lyrics and a different musical composition, winning songwriting credit, making the song a hit in 1962, reaching #2 on the R&B chart...
(This was the start of a long running feud between Tex and Brown. Check out the Wikipedia version of that story…)
It was during this time that Tex first began working with Buddy Killen, who formed the Dial Records label behind Tex. After a number of songs failed to chart, Killen decided to have Atlantic Records distribute his recordings with Dial in 1964. By the time he signed with Atlantic, Tex had recorded thirty songs, all of which had failed to make an impact on the charts…
In 1965, Killen took Joe to Muscle Shoals, not yet a fashionable recording center, and they came up with "Hold What You've Got," which is about as close to a straight R&B ballad as Tex ever came. It was followed by a herd more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40…
In 1966, his "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It," an imaginary letter home from Vietnam, became the first big hit directly associated with that war.
His biggest hit was "Skinny Legs and All," from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. "Skinny Legs" might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pop's future…
He was too down-home for the slickness of the disco era, or so it would have seemed, yet in 1977, he adapted a dance craze, the Bump, and came up with the hilarious "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)," his last Top Ten R&B hit, which also crossed over to number 12 on the pop chart…
Joe Tex died of a heart attack in 1982,
only 49 years old…
only 49 years old…
Killen, Ben E King, Don Covay, Wilson Pickett, and the great songwriter Percy Mayfield served as pallbearers…
R.I.P. JOE TEX
Ya left us way too soon…
THE USE OF ANY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS USED UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF "FAIR USE" IN TITLE 17 & 107 OF THE UNITED STATES CODE. SUCH MATERIAL REMAINS THE COPYRIGHT OF THE ORIGINAL HOLDER AND IS USED HERE FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION, COMPARISON, AND CRITICISM ONLY. NO INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT IS INTENDED
No comments:
Post a Comment