Ivory Joe Hunter (October 10, 1914 – November 8, 1974) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US

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 ...

starting in the mid-1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording " Since I Met You Baby" (1956). He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The Happiest Man Alive. His musical output ranged from R&B to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...

, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

, and Hunter made a name in all of those genres. Uniquely, he was honored at both the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

and the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a div ...

Early years

Hunter was born in Kirbyville, Texas. Ivory Joe was his given name, not a nickname nor a stage name. According to Hunter, when he was born his parents thought he "looked just like the baby on the outside of the Castoria Ivory bottle, so they called imIvory." As a youngster in a large family of musicians, he developed an early interest in music. His father, Dave Hunter, played guitar, and his mother sang gospel. Hunter was a talented pianist by the age of 13, playing in school orchestras. He graduated high school in 1930 and made his first recording for

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, s ...

and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

as a teenager, in 1933. Hunter was the uncle of Rick Stevens, the original lead vocalist for

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted th ...

Radio and recordings

In the early 1940s, Hunter had his own

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netwo ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the seat of government of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont– Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston ( ...

, on KFDM, for which he eventually became program manager. In 1942 he moved to Los Angeles, joining

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers Johnny Moore's Three Blazers was a popular American vocal group in the 1940s and 1950s. The original members were: *Johnny Moore (John Dudley Moore, October 20, 1906, Austin, Texas – January 6, 1969, Los Angeles, California); * Charles ...

in the mid-1940s. He wrote and recorded his first song, "Blues at Sunrise", with the Three Blazers for his own label, Ivory Records, it became a nationwide hit on the R&B chart in 1945. In the late 1940s, Hunter founded Pacific Records. In 1947, he recorded for Four Star Records and King Records. Two years later, he recorded further R&B hits; on "I Quit My Pretty Mama" and "Guess Who" he was backed by members of

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's band. After signing with

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

, he recorded "

I Almost Lost My Mind "I Almost Lost My Mind" is a popular song written by Ivory Joe Hunter and published in 1950. Hunter's recording of the song was a number one hit on the US ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart in that year. Hunter recorded the 12-bar blues style song ...

", which topped the 1950 R&B charts and would later (in the wake of Hunter's success with "Since I Met You Baby") be recorded by

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...

, whose version became a number one pop hit. " I Need You So" was a number two R&B hit that same year. With his smooth delivery, Hunter became a popular R&B artist, and he also began to be noticed in the

community. In April 1951, he made his

network TV A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid-1 ...

debut on '' You Asked for It''. He toured widely with a backing band and became known for his large build (he was 6 feet 4 inches tall), his brightly colored stage suits, and his volatile temperament. By 1954, he had recorded more than 100 songs and moved to

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 im ...

. His first song to cross over to the pop charts was "Since I Met You Baby" (1956). It was to be his only

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

pop song, reaching number 12 on the pop chart. While visiting

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

, in the spring of 1957, Hunter was invited by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

to visit Graceland. The two spent the day together, singing "I Almost Lost My Mind" and other songs together. Hunter commented, "He is very spiritually minded... he showed me every courtesy, and I think he's one of the greatest." Presley recorded several of his songs, including "I Need You So", "My Wish Came True" and "

Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby :Not to be confused with '' Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby (Jimmy Reed song)'' "Ain't That Loving You, Baby" is a song written by Clyde Otis and Ivory Joe Hunter and originally recorded by Eddie Riff in 1956. Elvis Presley recorded the song in 1958 ...

". Later, Presley would record " I Will Be True" and " It's Still Here" in May 1971. Hunter was a prolific songwriter, and some estimate he wrote more than 7,000 songs.

Country comeback

Hunter's "Empty Arms" and "Yes I Want You" also made the pop charts, and he had a minor hit with "City Lights" in 1959, just before his popularity began to decline. Hunter came back as a country singer in the late 1960s, making regular

appearances and recording an album titled ''I've Always Been Country''. The country singer Sonny James issued a version of "Since I Met You Baby", which topped the country charts in 1969, paving the way for Hunter's album ''The Return of Ivory Joe Hunter'' and his appearance at the

. The album was recorded in Memphis with a band that included

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

Gene "Bowlegs" Miller Gene "Bowlegs" Miller (May 27, 1933 – December 25, 1987) was an American trumpeter and band leader. Biography Miller performed in clubs on Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee, when that area was a flourishing center of nightlife, playing with suc ...

and Charles Chalmers.

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

recorded a cover version of the song in 1969.

Death

Hunter died of complications due to lung cancer in 1974, at the age of 60, in

. His remains were buried in Spring Hill Community Cemetery.

Singles

Albums

* ''Ivory Joe Hunter'', Atlantic (1957) * ''Mean Woman Blues'', Pickwick (Grand Prix Series)

References

Notes

* J.C. Marion
''JammUpp'' 23: "Let Me Dream: Ivory Joe Hunter"
* Tom Simon

External links

TV debut of Ivory Joe Hunter
on '' You Asked For It''
Ivory Joe performing "S.P. Blues"
with brief Nina Simone leading fragment
Ivory Joe Hunter at Shades Of Blue

Ivory Joe Hunter, Mean Woman Blues album info
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Ivory Joe 1914 births 1974 deaths African-American pianists American blues singers American country singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues singers American blues pianists American male pianists Boogie-woogie pianists Atlantic Records artists MGM Records artists Monument Records artists Deaths from lung cancer in Tennessee Four Star Records artists King Records artists Singer-songwriters from Texas People from Jasper County, Texas Smash Records artists Tear Drop Records artists Vee-Jay Records artists West Coast blues musicians African-American country musicians 20th-century American pianists Country musicians from Texas African-American male singer-songwriters 20th-century African-American male singers