From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Aug 12, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Percy Mayfield
 
PERCY MAYFIELD (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born 12 August 1920, Linden, Louisiana
Died 11 August 1984, Los Angeles, California

R&B vocalist / pianist / composer.
From Louisiana, Percy moved to the West Coast during the war. Hoping to
pitch a song to Jimmy Witherspoon, he went to Supreme Records who
insisted he recorded it himself instead, "Two Years of Torture" then became
his first single in 1947.
He was signed to Specialty Records in 1950, recording smash hits over the
two following years, "Please Send Me Someone to Love" (number one R&B
hit in 1950) and its flip "Strange Things Happening" were followed in the
charts by "Lost Love", "What a Fool I Was", "Prayin' for Your Return", "Cry
Baby", and "Big Question". Percy was the top unrivalled blues balladeer at
this time when a horrific auto wreck left him partially disfigured in 1952.

This sadly stopped the hits for a while but Percy's ability at songwriting
was left undamaged and a lot of his songs were covered by artists such as
B.B. King, The Moonglows, Little Junior Parker and more notably Ray Charles
for whom he penned four top ten hit songs "But On The Other Hand, Baby", "At
The Club", "Hide Nor Hair" and the #1 Pop and R&B "Hit The Road Jack".

Percy left Specialty in 1954, switching to Chess and Imperial and eventually
was signed to Ray Charles' Tangerine label in 1962, for which he recorded
heavily, having one more chart success with a remake of "River's Invitation"
(previously recorded for Specialty). He continued recording through the 70s,
scoring minor hits on RCA and Atlantic, while performing until his death from
a heart attack in 1984.

Recommended listening:
"Poet Of The Blues" ACE CDCHD 283
"Vol 2: Memory Pain" ACE CDCHD 438