Post by Rob Durkee on Aug 6, 2012 19:52:35 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
ABERDEEN, North Carolina -- Jimmy Jones, who was most famous for singing the original version of "Handy Man," died at what's believed to have been his residence here on Thursday, August 2, 2012. No cause of death was released by the Aberdeen Times web site. He was 82.
Special thanks go to musicologist Tom Diehl, who found the news of Jones' passing on the Aberdeentimes.com web site. Diehl e-mailed this vital information to another musicologist, Ronnie Allen, who in turn e-mailed it to this writer. Among the earliest reports of Jones' death were those found on www.oldiesmusic.com, Facebook and YouTube. For example, word of Jones's passing was found in posts on Facebook by his niece and on YouTube by one of his grandchildren.
Over the years, Jones' date of birth date has been reported differently. In the liner notes of his two-CD "Good Timin'" set, it was June 2, 1942. With many other sources, including Wikipedia, Joel Whitburn's Record Research and writer Christopher G. Feldman, it was June 2, 1937. However, according to the Aberdeen Times, Jimmy Jones was actually born on June 2, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jimmy Jones first got into tap dancing before moving to New York City to get into the music business. Jones sang for a number of doo-wop type groups from roughly 1954 to 1959, including the Berliners, the Sparks of Rhythm and the Savoys. He co-wrote "Handy Man" in 1955 and the song was recorded by the Sparks of Rhythm the next year, 1956. By that time, though, Jones had already left the group to form the Savoys.
In 1959, Jones went solo and connected with songwriter Otis Blackwell and the MGM affiliate label, Cub Records. "Handy Man," which Jones and Blackwell co-wrote, was reworked with an important feature. When the flute player didn't show up for the session, Blackwell provided the whistling that helped made the song a hit. According to writer Michael Futch, "Handy Man" was originally released in June, 1959, as the B side of "The Search Is Over." A Pittsburgh disc jockey began playing "Handy Man" in October, 1959, and the song became a hit there. The rest is musical history.
Unfortunately, "Handy Man" by Jimmy Jones was a victim of timing. The song climbed to #2 on the Cash Box pop charts of February 27, 1960 and March 5, 1960. Those, however, were the first two weeks of eight weeks at #1 for "Theme From 'A Summer Place' " by Percy Faith and His Orchestra. Faith's record became the #1 single of 1960 while "Handy Man" was #13. Jones' followup, "Good Timin'," reached #3 and would be ranked #23 for 1960.
"Handy Man" would become a Top 40 remake hit for Del Shannon in 1964 and James Taylor in 1977. Among the others to have recorded "Handy Man" are Conway Twitty, Joan Jett and Larry (Wild Man) Fischer.
Jimmy Jones couldn't equal the success of "Handy Man" and "Good Timin'." The two-sided hit "That's When I Cried" and "I Just Go For You" both charted separately, at #44 and #88 respectively. "I Told You So" reached #81 in 1961 as Jones' final pop chart single. Jones recorded for at least five labels after leaving Cub Records in 1962 but none of them could produce a chart hit.
Jones became extremely popular over in England over the years. His widow, Mattie, told the Fayetteville Observer, "Jimmy was a fabulous sensation over in Britain. They loved him in Britain. He was hot. (Before his passing) He would still get fan mail letters from over there. He was very well received."
Jimmy Jones would be part of an incident in the 1970's and a lawsuit in the 80's.
According to N.Y. Daily News writer David Hinckley, a lyric line from "Good Timin'" would be part of a communique allegedly written in 1973 by Patty Hearst. Actually, though, it was written by a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group which kidnapped her. The communique included this sentence: "Good timing' brought me to you."
Around 1984, Jimmy Jones sued Boy George claiming that the Culture Club hit song, "Karma Chameleon," plagiarized "Handy Man." Jones claimed the "Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon" part of the song was too similar to the "Come-a come-a come-a come-a come come a-come-a" part of Handy Man. The lawsuit was settled out of court. In later years, Boy George insisted he did nothing wrong. He added that the so-called settlement with Jones consisted of "10 pence and an apple."
Jones resurfaced in the 1990's with the CD "Grandma's Rock And Roll Party" that included rerecordings of "Handy Man" and "Good Timin'." In 2002, an anthology 2-CD set was released entitled, "Good Timin'" The Anthology."
ABERDEEN, North Carolina -- Jimmy Jones, who was most famous for singing the original version of "Handy Man," died at what's believed to have been his residence here on Thursday, August 2, 2012. No cause of death was released by the Aberdeen Times web site. He was 82.
Special thanks go to musicologist Tom Diehl, who found the news of Jones' passing on the Aberdeentimes.com web site. Diehl e-mailed this vital information to another musicologist, Ronnie Allen, who in turn e-mailed it to this writer. Among the earliest reports of Jones' death were those found on www.oldiesmusic.com, Facebook and YouTube. For example, word of Jones's passing was found in posts on Facebook by his niece and on YouTube by one of his grandchildren.
Over the years, Jones' date of birth date has been reported differently. In the liner notes of his two-CD "Good Timin'" set, it was June 2, 1942. With many other sources, including Wikipedia, Joel Whitburn's Record Research and writer Christopher G. Feldman, it was June 2, 1937. However, according to the Aberdeen Times, Jimmy Jones was actually born on June 2, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jimmy Jones first got into tap dancing before moving to New York City to get into the music business. Jones sang for a number of doo-wop type groups from roughly 1954 to 1959, including the Berliners, the Sparks of Rhythm and the Savoys. He co-wrote "Handy Man" in 1955 and the song was recorded by the Sparks of Rhythm the next year, 1956. By that time, though, Jones had already left the group to form the Savoys.
In 1959, Jones went solo and connected with songwriter Otis Blackwell and the MGM affiliate label, Cub Records. "Handy Man," which Jones and Blackwell co-wrote, was reworked with an important feature. When the flute player didn't show up for the session, Blackwell provided the whistling that helped made the song a hit. According to writer Michael Futch, "Handy Man" was originally released in June, 1959, as the B side of "The Search Is Over." A Pittsburgh disc jockey began playing "Handy Man" in October, 1959, and the song became a hit there. The rest is musical history.
Unfortunately, "Handy Man" by Jimmy Jones was a victim of timing. The song climbed to #2 on the Cash Box pop charts of February 27, 1960 and March 5, 1960. Those, however, were the first two weeks of eight weeks at #1 for "Theme From 'A Summer Place' " by Percy Faith and His Orchestra. Faith's record became the #1 single of 1960 while "Handy Man" was #13. Jones' followup, "Good Timin'," reached #3 and would be ranked #23 for 1960.
"Handy Man" would become a Top 40 remake hit for Del Shannon in 1964 and James Taylor in 1977. Among the others to have recorded "Handy Man" are Conway Twitty, Joan Jett and Larry (Wild Man) Fischer.
Jimmy Jones couldn't equal the success of "Handy Man" and "Good Timin'." The two-sided hit "That's When I Cried" and "I Just Go For You" both charted separately, at #44 and #88 respectively. "I Told You So" reached #81 in 1961 as Jones' final pop chart single. Jones recorded for at least five labels after leaving Cub Records in 1962 but none of them could produce a chart hit.
Jones became extremely popular over in England over the years. His widow, Mattie, told the Fayetteville Observer, "Jimmy was a fabulous sensation over in Britain. They loved him in Britain. He was hot. (Before his passing) He would still get fan mail letters from over there. He was very well received."
Jimmy Jones would be part of an incident in the 1970's and a lawsuit in the 80's.
According to N.Y. Daily News writer David Hinckley, a lyric line from "Good Timin'" would be part of a communique allegedly written in 1973 by Patty Hearst. Actually, though, it was written by a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group which kidnapped her. The communique included this sentence: "Good timing' brought me to you."
Around 1984, Jimmy Jones sued Boy George claiming that the Culture Club hit song, "Karma Chameleon," plagiarized "Handy Man." Jones claimed the "Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon" part of the song was too similar to the "Come-a come-a come-a come-a come come a-come-a" part of Handy Man. The lawsuit was settled out of court. In later years, Boy George insisted he did nothing wrong. He added that the so-called settlement with Jones consisted of "10 pence and an apple."
Jones resurfaced in the 1990's with the CD "Grandma's Rock And Roll Party" that included rerecordings of "Handy Man" and "Good Timin'." In 2002, an anthology 2-CD set was released entitled, "Good Timin'" The Anthology."