- Garnet Mimms
Garnet Mimms (born Garrett Mimms, 16 November 1933, Ashland,
West Virginia ) is an Americansinger influential insoul music andrhythm and blues .Mimms grew up in
Philadelphia , where he sang ingospel music groups such as the Evening Stars, the Harmonizing Four, and the group with which he would record his first record in 1953, the Norfolk Four. He returned to Philadelphia after serving in the military and formeddoo-wop group The Gainors in 1958.In 1961 Mimms and Sam Bell from The Gainors left to form a new group,
Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters with Zola Pearnell andCharles Boyer . The group moved to New York and began to work with thesongwriter andrecord producer ,Bert Berns . Berns signed them to theUnited Artists label and wrote the hit "Cry Baby" for them with songwriting partnerJerry Ragovoy . Thesong topped the R&B chart and went to #4 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in 1963, and paved the way for soul hits byAretha Franklin andOtis Redding later in the decade.fact|date=October 2008Mimms went solo and performed another Berns and Ragovoy hit "Take Good Care Of You" in 1966. Mimms worked with
Jimi Hendrix in the UK the following year. He did some recording on theMGM andVerve Records labels.In the 1970s he released a few
funk songs as Garnet Mimms and the Truckin' Co. He had his only hit in the United Kingdom at this time, when "What It Is" reached number 44 for one week on theUK Singles Chart in June 1977.Mimms was given a Pioneer Award in 1999 by the
Rhythm and Blues Foundation .In the 1980s, Garnet found his calling ministering to lost souls in prison, but in 2007 returned to recording, and in 2008 released a new gospel album "Is Anybody Out There?" on the Evidence label, produced and (primarily) written by
Jon Tiven .External links
* [http://www.tsimon.com/mimms.htm Garnet Mimms Page] via tsimon.com
* [http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Garnet%20Mimms.html Biography] via soulwalking
* [http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/garnet_mimms.htm Garnet Mimms bio] via rockabilly.nl
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