From wikipedia...
Joseph Arrington, Jr. (August 8, 1935– August 13, 1982), better known as Joe Tex, was an American musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styles of country, gospel and rhythm and blues.
His career started after he was signed to King Records in 1955 following four wins at the Apollo Theater. Between 1955 and 1964, he struggled to find hits and by the time he finally recorded his first hit, Hold What You've Got, in 1964, he had recorded thirty prior singles that were deemed failures on the charts. He went on to have four million-selling hits, Hold What You've Got (1965), Skinny Legs and All (1967), I Gotcha (1972), and Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) (1977).
Tex recorded for King Records between 1955 and 1957 with relatively little success. He later claimed he sold musical rights to the composition Fever to King Records staff, due to failure to pay rent. The song's credited songwriters, Otis Blackwell (who used the pseudonym John Davenport) and Joe Cooley disputed Tex's claims. Labelmate Little Willie John had a hit with Fever, later inspiring Tex to write the first of his answer songs, Pneumonia.
A convert to Islam in 1966, he changed his name to Yusuf Hazziez, and toured as a spiritual lecturer. He had one daughter, Eartha Doucet, and four sons, Joseph Arrington III, Ramadan Hazziez, Jwaade Hazziez and Joseph Hazziez.
On August 13, 1982, Yusuf Hazziez died at his home in Navasota, Texas, following a heart attack, five days after his 47th birthday.
Recorded in 1955.
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