Always looking out for weird, obscure kind of news out of the music world., I recently read that ‘Baby Huey’ an American rock and soul singer was actually very influential in the development of hip hop music. The UK has produced a number of soul acts like Dusty Springfield, but its just that Baby Huey was so ‘unlikely’ James Ramey as he was actually called., was a most unlikely musician. He weighed about 350 pounds when he was still young and this is what got him the stage name ‘Baby Huey’. He was a trumpeter and organist and formed the band ‘Baby Huey & the Babysitters’, releasing a number of 45 RPM singles.
Later on the guy started wearing an Afro and donned psychedelic African-inspired robes. His bandmates reckon that his rhymes were similar to those popularized by rappers in hip-hop music. Later he got an audition with Curtom Records who wanted to sign him up but not the band. He died of a drug-related heart attack in a Chicago motel room at the age of just 26, weighing 400lbs. I just find it fascinating that so many young artists die young and that so many make more money when they’re dead. His album ‘The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend’ was released posthumously, and today it is considered a classic of its period.