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Joe Tex
Birth name Joseph Arrington, Jr.
Also known as Yusuf Hazziez
Born (1933-08-08)August 8, 1933
Baytown, Texas, United States
Died August 13, 1982(1982-08-13) (aged 49)
Navasota, Texas, United States
Genres Southern soul, R&B, funk, rap
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Labels Ace Records, Atlantic Records, Epic Records

Joseph Arrington, Jr. (August 8, 1933 – August 13, 1982), better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s. His style of speaking over music, which he called 'rap', made him a predecessor of the modern style of music.

Contents

Career [link]

Born in Baytown, Texas,[1] Tex was subsequently raised in the Central Texas town of Rogers. His professional career as a singer began onstage at the Apollo. He won first place in a 1954 talent contest and duly secured a record deal.

His early releases on King Records, Ace and Anna Records were considered by some to be derivative and were generally disappointing in terms of sales. Tex released thirty singles in the first ten years of his recording career, never once hitting the Hot 100. However, after James Brown's cover version of Tex's "Baby You're Right" became a US number 2 hit in 1962, Tex was signed to Dial Records by Nashville, Tennessee-based record producer Buddy Killen, and his career turned around.

Tex prospered under Killen's guidance. Tex's first hit recording was 1965's "Hold What You've Got", recorded at the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and distributed by Atlantic on Killen's Dial record label. "Hold What You've Got" spent 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #5, and sold a million copies by 1966.[1]

Other singles followed, namely "A Woman Can Change a Man", and "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)" which were both ballads. But a change in tempo also brought hits such as "S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song)" (1966), and "Show Me" (1967). Tex's recording career was distinguished by his extensive single releases. For example, in 1965 alone, Tex released seven singles, followed by six in 1966 and five in 1967. He had released over thirty singles prior to the release of his first album, in 1965.

Meanwhile the singles "Skinny Legs and All" (US #10) and "Men Are Getting Scarce" also became major hits for Tex. "Skinny Legs And All" was Tex's second million seller spending 15 weeks in the charts. The single was released in late 1967,[2] and is the same version that appeared on his later pseudo-live album "Live And Lively". He was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 1968.[3] His last major hit of that time was "I Gotcha". "I Gotcha" also penned by Tex and released in January 1972, went to #2 for two weeks, and stayed for 20 weeks in the listings. The RIAA gold disc award was made on March 22, 1972. It went on to sell over two million copies by August that year.[4] Following its release, Tex decided to retire.

He returned to music in 1975, and two years later enjoyed a comeback hit with "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)", which reached U.S. #12. By the 1980s he had withdrawn again from full-time performing. He devoted himself to Islam, his Texas ranch and the Houston Oilers American Football team.

Rivalry with James Brown [link]

A feud between Tex and fellow labelmate James Brown began after Brown, who Tex felt copied his stage moves, began dating Tex's wife, Bea Ford. In response, Tex wrote a song called "You Keep Her." They played a few more shows together until Tex mocked James Brown's act of throwing a cape over his shoulder and screamed "please - get me out of this cape". Brown later fired a gun at Tex in a nightclub.[5]

Personal life and death [link]

A convert to the Muslim faith since 1966, he changed his name to Yusuf Hazziez, and toured as a spiritual lecturer. He has one daughter, Eartha Doucet, and four sons, Joseph Arrington III, Ramadan Hazziez, Jwaade Hazziez and Joseph Hazziez.

On August 13, 1982, Joe Tex died at his home in Navasota, Texas, following a heart attack, five days after his 49th birthday.

Cover versions [link]

Several other artists have covered Tex's work, including the rock band Nazareth's "I Want To (Do Everything for You)" and Phish who performed "You Better Believe It Baby" on July 26, 1998 at the Starplex Amphitheater in Dallas, Texas and again on August 2, 1998 at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. The rock band The Trews covered "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)" in 2009 on their acoustic album, Acoustic - Friends & Total Strangers. Lawrence "Lipbone" Redding covered "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)" on his 2011 album, Unbroken. Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers covered "Show Me" on his 1979 solo album "Everything You Heard Is True". UK band Q Tips performed "S.Y.S.L.J.F.M.(The Letter Song)" regularly in their live shows..

Selected discography [link]

Main article: Joe Tex discography

Albums [link]

Singles [link]

Soundtracks [link]

"I Gotcha" is used in both the film and soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Tarantino also uses "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)" in Death Proof (2007).

Notes [link]

  1. ^ a b Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 183. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
  2. ^ https://www.ct30.com/kgb/1967/671220.txt
  3. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 231. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
  4. ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 322. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
  5. ^ "Worst Band Feuds: No. 3". Spinner. September 14, 2007. https://www.spinner.com/2007/09/14/worst-band-feuds-no-3/. 
  6. ^ "No filler, no fat. Can't argue with this one, as it has all of his hits up to then. No B-sides, no album cuts. However, Atlantic should have put together a "Vol. 2," because his biggest hit of the sixties was right around the corner." James Porter et al., Joe Tex Album Guide, 2003; www.roctober.com.

References [link]

External links [link]


https://wn.com/Joe_Tex

Podcasts:

Joe Tex

ALBUMS

Bumps & Bruises

Released 2013

Singles A's & Bs Vol 2 1967 - 1968

Released 2010

First on the Dial: Early Singles and Rare Gems

Released 2008

Get Way Back: The 1950s Recordings

Released 2008

25 Greatest Hits

Released 2005

This Is Gold

Released 2003

Live and Lively / Soul Country

Released 2002

Buying a Book

Released 2002

The Love You Save / I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better

Released 2001

25 All-Time Greatest Hits

Released 2000

The Very Best of Joe Tex

Released 1996

Skinny Legs and All

Released 1994

I Believe I'm Gonna Make It! (The Best of Joe Tex)

Released 1988

The Very Best of Joe Tex

Released 1988

He Who Is Without Funk Cast the First Stone

Released 1979

Rub Down

Released 1978

I Gotcha

Released 1972

Sings With Strings & Things

Released 1970

Buying A Book

Released 1969

Live and Lively

Released 1968

The Best of Joe Tex

Released 1967

I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better

Released 1966

The Love You Save

Released 1966

Hold What You've Got

Released 1965

Bump To The Funk

From the Roots... Came the Rapper

Complete Dial Recordings, Volume 4

Greatest Hits

Golden Classics

Grand Master of Soul

Born: 1935-08-08

Died: 1982-08-13

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PLAYLIST TIME:

Funny How Time Slips Away

by: Joe Tex

Well, hello there,
My it's been a long, long, long time
How am I doin',
Oh, I guess that I?m doin' fine
It's been so long now and it seems that
It was only yesterday
Gee, ain't it funny how time slips so
How's your new love,
I hope that he's doin' fine
Heard you told him,
That you'd love him till the end of time
Now, that's the same thing
That you told me
Seems like just the other day
Gee, ain't it funny how time slips away
Gotta go now,
Guess, I?ll see you hanging round
Don't know when though,
Never know when I?ll be back in town
But remember what I tell you
That in time your gonna pay
And it's surprisin' how time slips away
Yes, my dear you'd better remember
What I tell you that in time,
In time your gonna pay




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