From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jul 23, 2002  1:12 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Tony Joe White
 
TONY JOE WHITE

Born 23 July 1943, Oak Grove, Louisiana

Singer, songwriter. While still in his teens, White formed his first band,
Tony Joe And The Mojos. A subsequent band, Tony And The Twilights,
headed for Texas, and when they broke up, White remained there as a
solo singer, developing his songwriting talents. He first recorded for the
Monument label in 1966 (produced by Ray Stevens), but had to wait
another two years for his next single. Many people presumed he was
black after hearing his layered vocals. With production help from the
then unknown Billy Swan, he put out three fine Monument albums.
From this Monument period, which lasted until 1970, comes his best
music. He scored his first and biggest hit (# 8) with "Polk Salad Annie"
in 1969, later covered by Elvis Presley. Also contained on his debut
"Black And White" was "Willie And Laura Mae Jones", which was covered
by Dusty Springfield. After scoring his only UK hit with "Groupie Girl" he
wrote "Rainy Night In Georgia", which was a # 4 hit for Brook Benton in
1970 and would became a standard. He moved to Warner Bros in 1971,
but success eluded him on his three albums - Tony Joe White, The Train
I'm On, and Homemade Ice Cream. Other stars, however, continued to
keep his name on the charts during the 1970s: Elvis charted with "For Ol'
Times Sake" and "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" (# 4 on the country
charts) and Hank Williams Jr. took "Rainy Night in Georgia" to # 13 on the
country charts. Before Elvis recorded it, "I've Got A Thing About You Baby"
gave Billy Lee Riley the sole chart entry of his entire career (# 93 in 1972).
White himself returned to the charts in 1980, with "I Get Off On It" (# 79) on
Casablanca. He was inactive through much of the '80s, but worked with
Tina Turner on her 1989 Foreign Affair album, writing four songs and playing
guitar and harmonica. He co-wrote "Steamy Windows" with Tina, which gave
her a Top 20 UK hit in 1990.

Recommended CD:
Best Of Tony Joe White (20 tracks). Though released on Warner Bros, these
are Monument recordings.
Official website: http://www.tonyjoewhite.net/
More info: http://home.t-online.de/home/Martin.Doppelbauer/life1.htm