Jimmy Soul
Jimmy Soul ( born August 24, 1942 in Weldon, North Carolina, † June 25, 1988 in New York; 's real name James McCleese ) was an American pop singer.
Curriculum vitae
From a young age McCleese worked as a child preacher and gospel musicians. He was a member of the church choir and in various gospel groups, among other things, he toured the southern states with the Nightingales, where he was nicknamed The Wonder Boy.
In 1962 the music producer Frank Guida was aware of him. Guida had while he was stationed in Trinidad discovered the calypso music and added some twist plates with his main act Gary U.S. Bonds. For a twist version of Matilda, a have become known in the version of Harry Belafonte calypso classic, he now sought a singer. James McCleese took Twistin ' Matilda under the stage name Jimmy Soul and reached number 22 in the U.S. charts.
Other recordings were once unsuccessful, but in 1963 he took on a modified version of the song Ugly Woman of the Trinidadian musician Roaring Lion. The unusual text (" If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, then never marry a pretty woman ") and the catchy, happy tune made the song If You Wanna Be Happy a huge success. It sold over a million copies and became the number one in the pop charts. In the UK the song was a top 40 hit.
However, the next album was unsuccessful, so Jimmy McCleese once went to the military. In the following years he continued working as a singer and entertainer, but the charts he did not come. In 1988, he died at the age of 45 after a heart attack.
If You Wanna Be Happy
The song has been covered many times, including by Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Rocky Sharpe and the Replays and Joe Dolce. Another chart hit there was not among them.
In 1990, the original version of Jimmy Soul in the soundtrack to the movie Mermaids kiss was better used and reached in the sequence in the UK once again the rear chart ranks.
Discography
- Twistin ' Matilda ( And the Channel)
- If You Wanna Be Happy
- A Woman Is Smarter in Every Kinda Way