- Jimmy Soul
Jimmy Soul (
August 24 1942 -June 25 1988 ), born James McCleese in Weldon,North Carolina , was a vocalist.He performed
gospel music as a teenager, later scouted byFrank Guida and recruited to singsong s handpicked for one of Guida's other hit artists,Gary U.S. Bonds . Soul only ever had two charthit single s, both which were Bond's cast-offs, "Twistin' Matilda", in 1962 and theBillboard Hot 100 number one hit "If You Wanna Be Happy " (based on the calypso, "Ugly Woman", byRoaring Lion ) in 1963.After unsuccessfully trying to follow up the success of those songs with one more
album , he gave up his career as amusician and joined theUnited States Army .He died of a heart attack in 1988.
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