James & Bobby Purify were an R&B

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

duo, whose biggest

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

were "

I'm Your Puppet "I'm Your Puppet" is a song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham; the best known version is the one recorded by James & Bobby Purify which reached #5 on the US R&B chart and #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1966. The single was nominated for ...

" in 1966, which reached number six in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(in May 1976), and " Let Love Come Between Us" in 1967, which reached number 23 in the US. The original "Bobby Purify" (Robert Lee Dickey) was replaced by a second "Bobby Purify" (Ben Moore) in the 1970s.

Life and career

The vocal duo of James Lee Purify (May 12, 1944,

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, – January 22, 2021, Pensacola) and his cousin Robert Lee Dickey (September 2, 1939,

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, Florida – December 29, 2011, Tallahassee) formed in 1965. Dickey had previously worked as a guitarist with the Dothan Sextet. The duo were signed by Don Schroeder to

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny ...

in 1966, with Dickey taking his cousin's surname as a

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

. They had immediate success with "I'm Your Puppet",

written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

and

Dan Penn Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including "The Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" wi ...

and produced by Penn at the

FAME Studios FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the ...

Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...

. The record, released in September 1966, spent 14 weeks on the US chart and sold an estimated one million copies. Although "I'm Your Puppet" was their biggest hit, they had several further successes on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

in the US in the late 1960s, including a revival of "

Shake a Tail Feather "Shake a Tail Feather" is a song written by Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, and Andre Williams and originally recorded in 1963 by the Chicago-based group the Five Du-Tones. The original recording reached #28 on ''Billboard''s Hot R&B Singles chart and ...

", originally by

The Five Du-Tones The Five Du-Tones were an American soul music, soul vocal group, who enjoyed success in the Novelty and fad dances, dance craze era of the early 1960s. The group comprised Willie Guest, Robert Hopkins, LeRoy Joyce, Oscar Watson and James West. They ...

, and "Let Love Come Between Us". Oliver's cover of the twosome's 1968 hit "I Can Remember" reached the top 25 of the Billboard Easy Listening Chart in the mid summer of 1970. The duo continued to record and tour together until 1971, when Dickey retired from the music business for health reasons and returned to Tallahassee, where he worked as a city maintenance supervisor as well as singing and playing guitar with his church and as a member of the Bethlehem Male Singers. James Purify then worked as a solo singer until 1974, when Penn introduced him to Ben Moore (Benjamin Moore Jr., August 7, 1941,

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

– May 12, 2022).
Moore had previously worked with

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

and as a member of Jimmy Tig and the Rounders, before forming half of the duo Ben and Spence, who recorded for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in the 1960s.
Moore adopted the stage name "Bobby Purify", and the duo

toured ''Toured (A Live Album)'' was a live album by Huntington Beach pop punk band Big Drill Car. The concert was recorded live at New York's CBGB's on September 3, 1991, at the beginning of a nineteen-week tour known as ''The Batch World Tour'', in su ...

together until the 1980s. They re-recorded "I'm Your Puppet", which became a number 12 hit in the UK in 1976, and an album, ''Purify Bros.'' Moore began recording as a solo singer for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

in 1977 and (as Bobby Purify) released an album, ''Purified'', in 1979. He also continued to tour as half of the duo with James Purify. He was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

in 1983, in the category of Best Soul Gospel Performance - Traditional, for the song "He Believes in Me". In 1998, Moore went blind from severe

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

and dropped out of the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. With the encouragement of

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, however, he returned to performing and recording. Under the name Bobby Purify, he released an album, ''Better to Have It'', produced by Dan Penn, in 2005. He later joined the gospel band

The Blind Boys of Alabama The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster ...

. James Purify died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

, on January 22, 2021, aged 76. Ben Moore died on May 12, 2022, at the age of 80.Blind Boys of Alabama Singer Benjamin Moore, Jr. Dead at 80
''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved May 19, 2022.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Bobby Purify official web site
* * as Bobby Purify * as James Purify {{DEFAULTSORT:Purify, James and Bobby African-American musical groups American musical duos American soul musical groups Bell Records artists Casablanca Records artists Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida Musical groups established in 1965 Musical groups disestablished in the 1980s Mercury Records artists Musical groups from Florida Northern soul musicians Rhythm and blues duos American rhythm and blues musical groups 1965 establishments in Florida 1980s disestablishments in Florida