Jimmy Soul (born James Louis McCleese; August 24, 1942 – June 25, 1988) was an American vocalist. He is best remembered for his 1963 number one hit, " If You Wanna Be Happy."

Background

Born in

Weldon, North Carolina Weldon is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area. History In 1752, Daniel Weldon purchased 1,273 acre ...

,Thedeadrockstarsclub.com
Accessed March 2010 he became a preacher at the age of seven"ArtistDirect.com: Jimmy Soul Biography"
Accessed November 2012 and performed gospel music as a teenager. He acquired his performing name, "Soul," from his

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship * Congregation (Roman Curia), an adminis ...

.Jimmy Soul Biography"
Oldies.com, Accessed November 2012 Soul took to the road and toured the southern United States as a member of various gospel groups. During this time he became popular around the

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 cen ...

area. It was here that Soul was scouted by Frank Guida and recruited to sing songs handpicked for one of Guida's other hit artists, Gary U.S. Bonds.

Success

Soul had two top-40

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s, both of which were refused by Bonds. They were on the SPQR label, distributed by

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

. The first was "Twistin' Matilda", which peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week ending May 26, 1962, while peaking three weeks later at No. 20 on the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The other was " If You Wanna Be Happy", which was the No. 1 hit for the week ending May 18, 1963. The latter, which also hit No. 1 on the Hot R&B Singles chart, was based on the calypso "Ugly Woman," by Roaring Lion. "If You Wanna Be Happy" sold over one million

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, earning

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status. It had two spells in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at #39 (1963) and #68 (1991) respectively.

Later years

Soul's next single, "Treat 'Em Tough", peaked at No. 8 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

; his last appearance on a ''Billboard'' chart. After unsuccessfully trying to follow up the success of those songs with one more album, Soul gave up his career as a musician and joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. Later in life, Soul fell into a drug habit, and on January 9, 1986, was sentenced to four-and-a-half to nine years in prison as a second felony offender, convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. The sentence was affirmed upon appeals on October 26, 1987, and March 22, 1988. Soul died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

on June 25, 1988, aged 45.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soul, Jimmy 1942 births 1988 deaths Singers from North Carolina People from Weldon, North Carolina 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers