Monday 15 November 2021

Joe Hinton born 15 November 1929

Joseph Hinton (November 15, 1929 – August 13, 1968) was an American soul singer. Best remembered for his tender 1964 reading of the Willie Nelson perennial "Funny How Time Slips Away." 

Though Clarksdale, Mississippi has been claimed as his birthplace, most sources state that Hinton was born in Evansville, Indiana, where he married LaVerne Flowers and started a family. He began as a gospel singer with the Blair Gospel Singers, the Chosen Gospel Quartet and the Spirit of Memphis Quartet. 

After Hinton's aching high tenor was employed to exemplary effect on records like "In the Garden" and "Lost in Sin" (a spiritual rewrite of the Spaniels' secular smash "Peace of Mind"), producer Don Robey, who was the president of the Spirit of Memphis' label, Peacock, convinced the singer to cross over to secular R&B, signing him to Peacock's Back Beat subsidiary in 1958. 

Recordings like "I Know" and "Pretty Little Mama" soon followed, and like its predecessor sold poorly -- only with his fifth Back Beat release, 1963's "You Know It Ain't Right," did Hinton finally crack the Billboard Hot 100 charts. His next effort, "Better to Give Than Receive," repeated the trick. 

                   

His biggest hit was 1964's "Funny How Time Slips Away", written by Willie Nelson; the tune (simply credited as "Funny" on the original record label) peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. 

Cash Box magazine listed "Funny How Time Slips Away" as #1 for four weeks on their R&B chart. The track sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. "I Want a Little Girl", the next single, also charted, but it was his last hit. 

Hinton died of skin cancer on August 13, 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 38, while still in the prime of his recording career. 

He is usually confused with another R&B singer, who recorded for the Arvee and Soul labels as Little Joe Hinton, and for Hotlanta as Joe Hinton, who is also believed to have recorded under the name Jay Lewis. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

4 comments:

boppinbob said...


I was going to post a digital album Joe Hinton- Essential Soul, containing 31 tracks currently available on Amazon. iTunes. Spotify etc…until I noticed that the playlist contained recordings by the two different Joe Hintons, so I gave it a miss. A big thank you goes to Groovy Gumbo’s blog, where I found the mp3’s for the album below.

Joe Hinton – Funny (How Time Slips Away) (2006 Shout)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/pl8pvdjc742ng0p/Joe+Hinton+-+Funny.rar/file

1. Joe Hinton - Funny (How Time Slips Away) (3:05)
2. Joe Hinton - Pledging My Love (2:35)
3. Joe Hinton - If You Love Me (2:26)
4. Joe Hinton - I'll Get Along Somehow (2:08)
5. Joe Hinton - If It Ain't One Thing It's Another (2:26)
6. Joe Hinton - So Close (2:22)
7. Joe Hinton - Endlessly (2:59)
8. Joe Hinton - Everything (2:25)
9. Joe Hinton - True Love (2:29)
10. Joe Hinton - A Thousand Cups Of Happiness (2:25)
11. Joe Hinton - Darling Come Talk To Me (2:19)
12. Joe Hinton - Guess Who (2:39)
13. Joe Hinton - Just A Kid Named Joe (2:26)
14. Joe Hinton - Be Ever Wonderful (2:26)
15. Joe Hinton - The Whole Town's Talking (2:44)
16. Joe Hinton - There Oughta Be A Law (2:24)
17. Joe Hinton - Don't Tell Her The Truth (2:41)
18. Joe Hinton - I'm Waiting (3:03)
19. Joe Hinton - Now I'm Satisfied (2:52)
20. Joe Hinton - Got You On My Mind (2:39)
21. Joe Hinton - Please (2:23)

Bob Mac said...

Thanks for Joe.

Aussie said...

thank you nice one

Rob Kopp said...

Thank you for this one. It's the first one I'm downloading from your blog. Smart idea to take the birthday of someone for your posts.