Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Jarrett Jr. (October 17, 1925 – March 21, 2009) was an American

singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

and producer of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

Early life

Jarrett was born into a prosperous African-American family in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. In 1927, when Jarrett was two years old, his father was killed in a gunfight over a woman. The family became poor, and at the age of seven Jarrett was sent to live with his grandparents on a farm outside Nashville. His step-grandfather had a violent temper and threatened him with a beating when he found he was writing song lyrics, reportedly saying "Only white boys write songs. Black boys don't write songs." At 15, Jarrett rejoined his mother and worked his way through Pearl High School in Nashville. In 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Jarrett was drafted into the military, just as he was about to attend

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

. He ultimately returned to Fisk in the 1970s, and graduated in 1974.

Musical career

In 1951, Jarrett became a disc jockey for WSOK in Nashville. He also did

talent scouting In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports, and they determine whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the s ...

for Tennessee Records. While performing at a white Nashville club called the Pink Elephant in 1955, Jarrett wrote " It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)", which became a No. 2 R&B hit for Louis Brooks and His Hi-Toppers, although the vocals were actually by

Earl Gaines Earl Gaines Jr. (August 19, 1935 – December 31, 2009) was an American soul blues and electric blues singer. Born in Decatur, Alabama, he sang lead vocals on the hit single "It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)", credited to Louis Brooks and his ...

, a friend of Jarrett's. The song, which also charted for

Hank Ballard Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of the Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an inte ...

and

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a popular music, pop music ...

, launched Jarrett's songwriting career. Later in 1955, country singer

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American country music vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number-one hits than any other country and western pe ...

recorded Jarrett's " Love Love Love", which spent eight weeks at the top of the country/western music chart. In his autobiography, Jarrett tells of being stopped by a policeman outside Nashville's

Hermitage Hotel The Hermitage Hotel, is a historic hotel located at 231 6th Avenue North in Nashville, Tennessee. Commissioned by 250 Nashville residents in 1908 and named for Andrew Jackson's estate, The Hermitage near Nashville, the hotel opened in 1910. It w ...

because he did not believe a black man would be invited to the 1955 BMI awards ceremony, where Jarrett was to receive an award for "Love Love Love". In 1957, Jarrett wrote and produced " You Can Make It If You Try" for Gene Allison, which was a No. 3 hit on the R&B chart early in 1958 and also charted on the pop chart. The song has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

many times since by artists such as the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

, and

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is ...

. Jarrett ran or worked for a number of Nashville soul,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, and gospel labels, including

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

, Calvert, Cherokee, Poncello, and T-Jaye. He produced for artists such as Christine Kittrell,

The Fairfield Four The Fairfield Four is an American gospel group that has existed for over 100 years, starting as a trio in the Fairfield Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1921. They were designated as National Heritage Fellows in 1989 by the National End ...

, Larry Birdsong, Roscoe Shelton, and

The Avons The Avons were a British pop vocal group. Originally composed of Valerie Murtagh (born 1936, Willesden, London) and Elaine Murtagh, (born 1940, County Cork, Ireland) and known as 'The Avon Sisters', they added Raymond S. Adams (born 1938, Jerse ...

Recognition

In 2004, the

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

released a compilation album entitled ''

Night Train to Nashville ''Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970'' is a two disc compilation of R&B songs from 1945 to 1970 recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The compilation was spawned by an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. ...

'', containing many tracks produced by Jarrett; it was produced to go with an exhibit of the same name at the museum. A tribute concert was held at the museum in 2005 to coincide with the publication of Jarrett's autobiography ''You Can Make It If You Try''.

Death

Jarrett died of

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

in his hometown of Nashville on March 21, 2009, aged 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarrett, Ted Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Radio personalities from Nashville, Tennessee African-American record producers African-American songwriters 1925 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians