Post by erik on Jul 16, 2022 13:14:46 GMT -5
A lesser-known hit from Southern soul singer Joe Simon is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
MOON WALK (PARTS 1 & 2) (Joe Simon; Soundstage; 1969)—Born in Simmesport, Louisiana in 1935, when Jim Crow laws kept those of his kind on edge, Joe Simon was one of the most popular of Southern soul singers who emerged during the 1960’s. In 1966, Simon attracted the attention of Nashville disc jockey John Richbourg, who became his manager and producer and got him signed to Soundstage, a subsidiary of Monument Records. Although his first few hits only managed to place themselves high on the R&B charts, he made a breakthrough in 1967 with his version of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”; and in early 1969, he hit #13 on the Hot 100 (#1 R&B) with “The Chokin’ Kind”, a song written by no less a Nashville tunesmith than Harlan Howard and previous recorded by a then relatively unknown Waylon Jennings. One of Simon’s more obscure songs from that same time was an R&B dance number about a love affair with a cosmic title called “Moon Walk”. Edited into two parts, and released as a single in December 1969, five months after the Apollo 11 moon landing, “Moon Walk” was probably too long to become one of Simon’s bigger or better known hits; and it stalled at #54 on the Hot 100 for the week ending January 10, 1970, though it did place far better on the R&B chart at #11. Simon’s career, however, continued keeping on, as he had a big hit in 1973 with “Theme From Cleopatra Jones”, and then getting his highest Hot 100 placement with “Get Down, Get Down (Get On The Floor)”, which peaked at #8 in the late summer of 1975. At the end of the 1970’s, he turned towards more religious music and became a pastor. In 1999, Simon was inducted as a Pioneer Award honoree by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation; and British white soul singer Joss Stone covered Simon’s “The Chokin’ Kind” on her 2003 album The Soul Sessions. Simon passed away at the age of 84 on December 13, 2021.
MOON WALK (PARTS 1 & 2) (Joe Simon; Soundstage; 1969)—Born in Simmesport, Louisiana in 1935, when Jim Crow laws kept those of his kind on edge, Joe Simon was one of the most popular of Southern soul singers who emerged during the 1960’s. In 1966, Simon attracted the attention of Nashville disc jockey John Richbourg, who became his manager and producer and got him signed to Soundstage, a subsidiary of Monument Records. Although his first few hits only managed to place themselves high on the R&B charts, he made a breakthrough in 1967 with his version of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”; and in early 1969, he hit #13 on the Hot 100 (#1 R&B) with “The Chokin’ Kind”, a song written by no less a Nashville tunesmith than Harlan Howard and previous recorded by a then relatively unknown Waylon Jennings. One of Simon’s more obscure songs from that same time was an R&B dance number about a love affair with a cosmic title called “Moon Walk”. Edited into two parts, and released as a single in December 1969, five months after the Apollo 11 moon landing, “Moon Walk” was probably too long to become one of Simon’s bigger or better known hits; and it stalled at #54 on the Hot 100 for the week ending January 10, 1970, though it did place far better on the R&B chart at #11. Simon’s career, however, continued keeping on, as he had a big hit in 1973 with “Theme From Cleopatra Jones”, and then getting his highest Hot 100 placement with “Get Down, Get Down (Get On The Floor)”, which peaked at #8 in the late summer of 1975. At the end of the 1970’s, he turned towards more religious music and became a pastor. In 1999, Simon was inducted as a Pioneer Award honoree by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation; and British white soul singer Joss Stone covered Simon’s “The Chokin’ Kind” on her 2003 album The Soul Sessions. Simon passed away at the age of 84 on December 13, 2021.