Jimmy Hughes (singer)
Encyclopedia
Jimmy Hughes is an American
former rhythm and blues
singer, whose biggest successes in the mid 1960s, notably his hit "Steal Away", were important in the early development of the Muscle Shoals
music industry.
, was born and raised in Leighton, Alabama
, close to Muscle Shoals. He began singing in a gospel
quartet, The Singing Clouds, while at high school. In 1962, he auditioned for record producer Rick Hall
at his FAME Studios
. Hall was impressed, and recorded Hughes on a song, "I'm Qualified", that Hall had co-written with Quin Ivy
. The record was leased to the Guyden
label in Philadelphia, but was not a hit. Hughes returned to his day job at a rubber
factory, and began singing secular R&B songs in local clubs.
Early in 1964, he returned to Hall with a powerful ballad he had written, "Steal Away", partly based on the gospel song "Steal Away to Jesus", and recorded the song in one take, backed by the studio rhythm section of Terry Thompson, David Briggs
, Norbert Putnam
and Jerry Carrigan
. Hall and his friend Dan Penn
then promoted the record around radio station
s in the South
, and it rose to # 17 on the Billboard
Hot 100. The record has been cited as "a prototype not only for subsequent great soul singers such as Johnnie Taylor
and Al Green
, but also would help define the signature Muscle Shoals sound." On the basis of Hughes' record, Hall signed a national distribution deal with Vee-Jay Records
for his FAME label. Hughes' follow-up record, "Try Me", reached # 65 on the Hot 100, and he recorded an album, Steal Away, released on the Vee-Jay label, which included the first songwriting collaborations between Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham
. He also toured with Sam Cooke
, Jackie Wilson
, Bobby Womack
and others.
Hughes' next few singles were unsuccessful, as Vee-Jay Records diverted their attention to The Beatles
and The Four Seasons, and then folded. However, in 1966, after the success of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman
", Hall negotiated a new deal for his label to be distributed by Atlantic Records
. Hughes returned to the charts with "Neighbor, Neighbor" (# 65 pop, # 4 R&B), "I Worship the Ground You Walk On" (# 25 R&B), and "Why Not Tonight" (# 90 pop, # 5 R&B), before moving to the Atlantic label itself with "It Ain't What You Got" (# 43 R&B, 1968).
Early in 1968, Hughes moved to Stax Records
, where his recordings were issued on the subsidiary Volt label. His first record for the label, "I Like Everything About You", reached # 21 on the R&B chart, but later records were less successful. At the time, Stax was undergoing a major reorganisation with new management and new artists. Although his records, including a 1969 album Something Special, were produced by label boss Al Bell
, Hughes later stated that he felt like the "low man on the totem pole" at the label, and became frustrated by what he saw as a lack of promotion. He also tired of touring and being away from his family, and in 1970 gave up recording and performing. He retrained, and got a government job making parts for nuclear power plant
s in the Tennessee River
Valley, in later years only singing as a member of the congregation of his local church in Leighton.
Several compilation album
s of Hughes' recordings have been issued in recent years.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer, whose biggest successes in the mid 1960s, notably his hit "Steal Away", were important in the early development of the Muscle Shoals
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 12,846. The city is included in The Shoals MSA. It is famous for its contributions to American popular music.-Geography:Muscle Shoals is located...
music industry.
Life and career
Hughes, a cousin of Percy SledgePercy Sledge
Percy Sledge is an American R&B and soul performer who recorded the hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" in 1966.-Early career:...
, was born and raised in Leighton, Alabama
Leighton, Alabama
Leighton is a town in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Florence - Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Statistical Area known as "The Shoals". At the 2000 census the population was 849...
, close to Muscle Shoals. He began singing in a gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
quartet, The Singing Clouds, while at high school. In 1962, he auditioned for record producer Rick Hall
Rick Hall
Roe Erister "Rick" Hall is an American record producer, songwriter, music publisher and musician who is best known as the owner and proprietor of the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.-Life and career:...
at his FAME Studios
FAME Studios
FAME Studios are located at 603 East Avalon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 1950s to the present...
. Hall was impressed, and recorded Hughes on a song, "I'm Qualified", that Hall had co-written with Quin Ivy
Quin Ivy
Quin Ivy is a former disc jockey turned songwriter crucial to the Muscle Shoals scene in the 1960s.He was the son of a farmer who later moved to Oxford where he worked as a grocer. He was a DJ at WMPS in Memphis, WKDA in Nashville and WLAY in Muscle Shoals. He wrote songs with producer Rick Hall...
. The record was leased to the Guyden
Jamie Records
Jamie Records was a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1957 by Harold Lipsius.Their first 45rpm single, "It's Great To Fall In Love"/"Truly" by Marian Caruso , was issued in 1957. However, they really hit the big-time in 1958 with the release of Duane Eddy's "Rebel...
label in Philadelphia, but was not a hit. Hughes returned to his day job at a rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
factory, and began singing secular R&B songs in local clubs.
Early in 1964, he returned to Hall with a powerful ballad he had written, "Steal Away", partly based on the gospel song "Steal Away to Jesus", and recorded the song in one take, backed by the studio rhythm section of Terry Thompson, David Briggs
David Briggs (American musician)
David Briggs is an American keyboardist, record producer, arranger, composer and studio owner....
, Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. He grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry...
and Jerry Carrigan
Jerry Carrigan
Jerry Carrigan is an American drummer and record producer born 13 September 1943 in Florence, Alabama. He first achieved widespread recognition by being part of the first wave of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and later as a session musician in Nashville, Tennessee for over 3 decades...
. Hall and his friend Dan Penn
Dan Penn
Dan Penn is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby"...
then promoted the record around radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s in the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, and it rose to # 17 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100. The record has been cited as "a prototype not only for subsequent great soul singers such as Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Taylor
Johnnie Harrison Taylor was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from rhythm and blues, soul, blues and gospel to pop, doo-wop and disco.-Early years:...
and Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
, but also would help define the signature Muscle Shoals sound." On the basis of Hughes' record, Hall signed a national distribution deal with Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records is a record label founded in the 1950s, specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. It was owned and operated by African Americans.-History:...
for his FAME label. Hughes' follow-up record, "Try Me", reached # 65 on the Hot 100, and he recorded an album, Steal Away, released on the Vee-Jay label, which included the first songwriting collaborations between Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham
Spooner Oldham
Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and at FAME Studios on such hit R&B songs as "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett and "I Never Loved a Man" by Aretha...
. He also toured with Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
, Jackie Wilson
Jackie Wilson
Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was known as a master showman, and as one of the most dynamic singers and performers in R&B and rock history...
, Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
and others.
Hughes' next few singles were unsuccessful, as Vee-Jay Records diverted their attention to The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and The Four Seasons, and then folded. However, in 1966, after the success of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman
When a Man Loves a Woman (song)
"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. It was listed 54th in the List of Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest songs of all time...
", Hall negotiated a new deal for his label to be distributed by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. Hughes returned to the charts with "Neighbor, Neighbor" (# 65 pop, # 4 R&B), "I Worship the Ground You Walk On" (# 25 R&B), and "Why Not Tonight" (# 90 pop, # 5 R&B), before moving to the Atlantic label itself with "It Ain't What You Got" (# 43 R&B, 1968).
Early in 1968, Hughes moved to Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
, where his recordings were issued on the subsidiary Volt label. His first record for the label, "I Like Everything About You", reached # 21 on the R&B chart, but later records were less successful. At the time, Stax was undergoing a major reorganisation with new management and new artists. Although his records, including a 1969 album Something Special, were produced by label boss Al Bell
Al Bell
Al Bell is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Bell is best known as one of the key figures behind and a co-owner of Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records during the latter half of the label's nineteen-year existence...
, Hughes later stated that he felt like the "low man on the totem pole" at the label, and became frustrated by what he saw as a lack of promotion. He also tired of touring and being away from his family, and in 1970 gave up recording and performing. He retrained, and got a government job making parts for nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
s in the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
Valley, in later years only singing as a member of the congregation of his local church in Leighton.
Several compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s of Hughes' recordings have been issued in recent years.
Singles (chart hits only)
| Year | Title | Label & Cat. No. | U.S. Pop Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | "Steal Away" | Fame 6401 | |
|
| 1964 | "Try Me" | Fame 6403 | |
|
| 1966 | "Neighbor, Neighbor" | Fame 1003 | |
|
| 1966 | "I Worship The Ground You Walk On" | Fame 1006 | |
|
| 1967 | "Why Not Tonight" | Fame 1011 | |
|
| 1968 | "It Ain't What You Got" | Atlantic 2454 | |
|
| 1968 | "I Like Everything About You" | Volt 4002 | |
|
Albums
- Steal Away (Vee-Jay, 1965)
- Why Not Tonight? (Atco, 1967)
- Something Special (Volt, 1969)