Artist: Percy Mayfield
Author: Percy Mayfield
Label: Tangerine
Year: 1964
His hometown was Minden, LA, the place where he came back to following his accident but where Jim Crow obviously never left.
Covers:
Ray Charles [in duet with Kenny Carr]
Percy Mayfield was the soft voiced, rather neglected composer, best known for a few Ray Charles hits, Hit The Road Jack to name but one (see there). His own singing career started off very promising with some big R&B hits for Specialty. A good pen, a good voice, good looks and women liked him until the day he got involved in a serious road accident that marked his face for life. He continued performing but only in dark clubs with no lights on his cruelly deformed features. His record deal with Specialty came to an end. Tangerine Records, Ray Charles' label, was the only place he could shelter, probably out of gratitude for so many beautiful songs for Brother Ray. This Stranger In My Own Home Town from his first Tangerine lp resumes the drama.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)