Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
jollytunes
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•Jul 23, 2015
Sometimes it feels like it’s raining all over the world… RIP Tony Joe White July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018.
Tony Joe White obituary
The Guardian
US singer and songwriter best known for Rainy Night in Georgia who described his southern style of music as ‘kind of swampy’
Garth Cartwright
Sun 28 Oct 2018 12.26 EDT Last modified on Sun 18 Nov 2018 15.14 EST
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Tony Joe White, nicknamed the ‘Swamp Fox’, on the Johnny Cash Show, 1970. Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Tony Joe White, who has died from a heart attack aged 75, grew up in rural Louisiana and was nicknamed “the Swamp Fox” due to his ability to write songs that conveyed the humidity, idiosyncrasies and tensions of the US south.
The best known of these was Rainy Night in Georgia, which gained global recognition not through his own version but via a cover in 1970 from Brook Benton, followed by a number of other popular interpretations over the years, by artists from Ray Charles to Randy Crawford and Rod Stewart.
In fact his swamp songs proved surprisingly universal, and were recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley and Tina Turner to Dusty Springfield and Rory Gallagher. When his career was flagging in the 1980s, Turner brought his song Steamy Windows to wider attention as a Top 20 hit in various countries, and also used three of his other compositions on her highly successful 1989 album, Foreign Affair.
White was born into a farming family, the seventh son of Virgie (nee Andrews) and Charlie White, in Oak Grove, a small town in north-eastern Louisiana, and he grew up harvesting cotton and corn. A keen interest in music, especially the blues his African-American neighbours played, found White, upon graduating from high school, playing Texan honky-tonks where he recalled “the beer bottles would get to flying”.
In 1967 he was working as a dump truck driver for the local authority in Marietta, Georgia, and while doing so heard Bobbie Gentry’s groundbreaking 1967 hit Ode to Billie Joe. This inspired him to write songs about southern life and one of the first was Polk Salad Annie, a wry rocker about “a girl that I swear to the world/ would make the alligators look tame”.
White guessed he had something and, in late 1967, drove to Nashville. There he parked up and walked into the first music publisher’s office he came across. They asked him what kind of music he made and he replied, “well, it’s kind of swampy”. Directed across the road to Combine Music, the publisher of Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson, its head, Bob Beckham, recognised in White a maverick talent. Beckham suggested that Monument Records, the label that had made Roy Orbison famous, should sign White – and they did.
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Tony Joe White performing in Amsterdam in 1991. He became more popular in Europe than in his native US. Photograph: Frans Schellekens/Redferns
While his 45s initially failed to chart in the US – although Soul Francisco was a hit in France – White was certain that Polk Salad Annie had potential, as southern audiences loved the song. For almost a year the single’s momentum built as local radio stations played it, but it took a major Los Angeles radio station to add it to their playlist for White to get his break – Polk Salad Annie reached No 8 on the US pop charts in July 1969, his only US Top 40 hit. Presley, recognising a kindred spirit, began performing it in concert. White capitalised by releasing his debut album, Black and White, in 1969.
He quickly followed with ... Continued (1969) and Tony Joe (1970), albums that showcased his drawling delivery and natural talents as a storyteller. Yet from now on it would be other singers who scored with White songs: Benton’s recording of Rainy Night became a huge international hit, and the song is now a contemporary standard.
In 1970 White had his sole UK Top 40 hit when Groupie Girl got to No 22, and he made his debut in Britain that year at the Isle of Wight festival in front of a huge, enthusiastic audience. Thereafter he regularly appeared in the UK, his laconic personality treating each performance, no matter how grand the venue, as if he were playing on his back porch.
White’s talent and handsome features meant many saw him as a potential superstar, and Warner Brothers signed him, pairing him with top producers (Peter Asher, Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler) for three excellent albums. Yet the albums failed to sell – in the US they were too white for black radio, too black for white radio – and White found himself in a conundrum. He released only one more album that decade, and two in the 80s. None of them was successful.
However, in 1988 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits asked White if he had any songs that might suit Turner. She went on to include four of White’s originals on Foreign Affair, the title track of which was also a White composition. The album, on which White played guitar and harmonica, sold more than six million copies and Roger Davies, Turner’s manager, signed White to his management stable. He immediately got him a recording contract with Polydor’s European arm, then raised his profile by getting him to contribute songs to, and perform with, musicians such as Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker.
Although now more popular in Europe – especially France – than the US, White continued to live in Nashville, to tour widely (always accompanied only by a drummer) and to release albums of strong new material. In 2014 he performed at the Glastonbury festival, and subsequent interest saw the release of a double CD compilation, Swamp Fox: The Definite Collection 1968-1973 (2015). His final album, Bad Mouthin’, was released this year and found White interpreting the blues songs that had inspired him as a youth.
He is survived by his wife, Leann, whom he married in 1964, and by their three children, Jody, Jim Bob and Michelle.
• Tony Joe White, singer and songwriter, born 23 July 1943; died 24 October 2018
IMDB Biography
Born July 23, 1943 in Oak Grove, Louisiana, USA
Died October 24, 2018 in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, USA (heart attack)
Nickname The Swamp Fox
Mini Bio (1)
Tony Joe White reigned supreme as one of the true masters of get-down funky bluesy swamp rock music. The singer/songwriter/guitarist was born on July 23, 1943. He was the youngest of seven children who grew up on a cotton farm near Oak Grove, Louisiana. White first began performing music at school dances. Following graduation from high school Tony Joe went on to perform in night clubs in Texas and Louisiana. White went to Nashville in 1968. He had a big hit with his classic hard-stomping song "Polk Salad Annie." Tony Joe had modest country hits with "The Lady in My Life" and "We Belong Together." Brook Benton scored a substantial success with his moving and soulful rendition of White's beautiful "Rainy Night in Georgia." Among the artists who have recorded Tony Joe's songs are Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, George Jones, Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, Jerry Reed, Jessi Colter, and Elvis Presley (the King of Rock'n'Roll sings "Polk Salad Annie" in the rock concert documentaries "Elvis on Tour" and "Elvis: That's the Way It Is").
In 1989 White wrote four songs for and played both guitar and harmonica on Tina Turner's "Foreign Affair" album. Tony Joe toured with such groups as Steppenwolf, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Sly and the Family Stone. He did jingles for McDonald's and Levi's 501 Blues jeans. White composed the scores for the made-for-TV film "Living Straight" and the musical Shakespearean rock opera "Catch My Soul" (he also played Cassio in this latter picture). A huge cult favorite in Europe, Tony Joe continued to record albums on his own Swamp Records label and performed in concerts all over the world. White died at age 75 on October 24, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Brook Benton: “Rainy Night in Georgia” (1970)
Brook Benton, IMDB Biography
Born September 19, 1931 in Camden, South Carolina, USA
Died April 9, 1988 in New York City, New York, USA (spinal meningitis)
Birth Name Benjamin Franklin Peay
Mini Bio (1)
Singer/songwriter Brook Benton was born Benjamin Franklin Peay on September 19, 1931, in Camden, South Carolina. He became a gospel singer at a young age and was a member of the Camden Jubilee Singers. Benton moved to New York City at age 17 in 1948 to try his luck as a songwriter. When he first arrived in New York he sang with such gospel groups as Bill Langford's Spiritual Singers, The Langfordaires, The Golden Gate Quartet, and The Jerusalem Stars. He eventually went back to South Carolina, drove a truck for a while and joined the R&B singing group The Sandmen prior to returning to New York again in search of a big break. This time Benton found a successful career co-producing albums and writing songs for such artists as Nat 'King' Cole, Clyde McPhatter (he penned the hit song "A Lover's Question" for McPhatter), and Roy Hamilton.
Benton enjoyed his first minor hit with "A Million Miles from Nowhere." He then switched to Mercury Records and achieved his greatest commercial success recording a steady string of hit songs with that label (he frequently collaborated with producer/songwriter Clyde Otis while at Mercury). In 1959 Brook scored two major breakthrough successes: "It's Just A Matter of Time" peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts and "Endlessly" went all the way to #12 on the charts. Benton sustained this winning streak with such equally excellent tunes as "Thank You Pretty Baby," "So Many Ways," "Hotel Happiness," "The Boll Weevil Song," and "Kiddio." "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)," his two delightful duets with Dinah Washington, were both Top 10 hits in 1960. Brook cracked the Top 10 one last time in 1970 with a beautifully moving rendition of Tony Joe White's lovely ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." He remained a popular concert performer throughout the 1980s.
Benton died at the tragically young age of 56 from spinal meningitis in New York City on April 9, 1988. He was survived by his wife Mary and four children.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
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