Joe Tex
Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts ("Hold What You've Got," 1965, number five 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.
Tex was born Joseph Arrington in Rogers, Texas, in 1935, and displayed his vocal talent early on, first in gospel, then in R&B. By 1954, he'd won a local talent contest and come to New York, where he recorded a variety of derivative (and endlessly repackaged) singles for King, some as a ballad singer, some as a Little Richard-style rocker.
Tex's career didn't take off until he began his association with Nashville song publisher Buddy Killen after Tex wrote James Brown's 1961 song "Baby You're Right." In 1965, Killen took him 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 many more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40.
Tex made his mark by preaching over tough hard soul tracks, clowning at some points, swooping into a croon at others. He was perhaps the most rustic and back-country of the soul stars, a role he played to the hilt by using turns of phrase that might have been heard on any ghetto street corner, "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" the prototype. 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.
After "Skinny Legs," Tex had nothing but minor hits for five years until "I Gotcha" took off, a grittier twist on the funk that was becoming disco. 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.
In the early '70s, Tex converted to Islam and in 1972 changed his offstage name to Joseph Hazziez. He spent much of the time after "Ain't Gonna Bump" on his Texas farm, although he did join with Wilson Pickett, Ben E. King, and Don Covay for a re-formed version of the Soul Clan in 1980. He died of a heart attack in 1982, only 49 years old. Killen, King, Covay, Pickett, and the great songwriter Percy Mayfield served as pallbearers.
© Dave Marsh /TiVo
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Right Back To My Arms
Soul - Released by Marylebone Records on 13 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Biggest Mistake (The Singles Vol. 1)
Pop - Released by Soul Story on 1 Jan 2013
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Music around the World by Joe Tex
Pop - Released by Sunny Side of the Street on 23 Jun 2023
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The 12 Days of Christmas with Joe Tex
R&B - Released by All I Have To Do Is Dream on 29 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Joe Tex (Vintage Charm)
R&B - Released by Don't stop the music on 22 Feb 2023
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Hold On It's Joe Tex
World - Released by TP4 Music on 6 Jan 2020
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Hold On! It's Joe Tex
Alternative & Indie - Released by Hallmark on 1 Jan 2000
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One Giant Step
R&B - Released by Real Rhythm And Blues Records on 11 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Joe Tex 1956-1959
Jazz - Released by Black Sheep Music on 3 Apr 2013
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Introducing Joe Tex
Pop - Released by Play Digital on 9 Nov 2015
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Joe Tex Soul Legends
Soul - Released by StreamWorld Entertainment Classics on 5 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Soul Masters: Right Back To My Arms
R&B - Released by Carinco AG on 16 Dec 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Joe Tex - The Blues Legends
Blues - Released by Golden Arrow on 6 Nov 2015
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Joe Tex - Just You & Me
Country - Released by Westmill on 25 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Forever Soul (A Collection of Timeless Soul Artists)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Hoogan Records on 3 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo