GARNET MIMMS

Garnet Mimms produced one of soul music's first big hits, "Cry Baby" (1963). His entry at allmusic.com states, "[His] pleading, gospel-derived intensity made him one of the earliest true soul singers. [And] his legacy remains criminally underappreciated.”

He was born Garrett Mimms in Ashland, West Virginia, on November 26, 1933, but grew up in Philadelphia. Like many soul singers, Mimms got his start in gospel music, performing with groups named the Evening Stars and the Harmonizing Four. His earliest recordings, for Savoy Records, came out in 1953 with the Norfolk Four.

After a hitch in the military, Mimms returned to Philadelphia and sang doo-wop with the Deltones. In 1958, he formed his own group, the Gainors, whose line-up included another future star of soul music, Howard Tate. They recorded several singles for the Red Top, Mercury and Talley Ho labels, but none of them sold. Mimms and a fellow Gainor, Sam Bell, left the group in 1961 to form a new line-up with Charles Boyer and Zola Peamell. They dubbed themselves Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters.

Relocating to New York, they met songwriter/producer Bert Berns, who got the group signed to the United Artists label. Berns also teamed them up with his fellow songwriter/producer, Jerry Ragovoy, who immediately came up with a hit for the group. “Cry Baby” was a raw, intense, gospel-driven ballad with a pleading spoken-word bridge. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Rhythm & Blues chart and reached #4 on the pop side. It also laid the groundwork for future soul stars like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. (Janis Joplin would record her own version of “Cry Baby” in 1970.)

The Enchanters followed their debut smash with the double-sided hit, “For Your Precious Love” / “Baby, Don’t You Weep.” Their 1964 single, “A Quiet Place,” became a perennial favorite on the Beach Music scene of North and South Carolina. That same year, Garnet Mimms left the group to pursue a solo career. He remained with United Artists and racked up several minor hits through 1966. UA would later move the singer to its Veep subsidiary, on which he came out with “My Baby,” another Mimms track that Janis Joplin covered. He also released three albums: As Long As I Have You (1964), I'll Take Good Care of You, and Warm and Soulful (both 1966).

In 1967, the LP Garnet Mimms Live was released only in the UK. In 1968, he signed with Verve, where Mimms continued to work with Jerry Ragovoy. After his 1972 sessions for the GSF label, Garnet Mimms did not record again for five years.

In 1977, he laid down some funk tracks as Garnet Mimms & The Truckin’ Company. One of these numbers, “What It Is,” became his first charted single in eleven years. Not long after, Mimms quit the music business and became a born-again Christian. In the 1980s, he joined the New Jerusalem Prison Ministry and later established the Bottom Line Revival Ministries, where he continued to minister to the incarcerated.

In 1999, Garnet Mimms received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award. In 2007, he released a gospel album, Is Anybody Out There?, his first recording in thirty years.

Charted singles:

“Cry Baby” (1963) R&B #1 (3 weeks), Pop #4
“Baby, Don’t You Weep” (1963) R&B #9, Pop #30
“For Your Precious Love” (1963) R&B #11, Pop #26
“Tell Me Baby” (1964) R&B #16, Pop #69
“One Girl” (1964) R&B #31, Pop #67
“A Quiet Place” (1964) R&B #25, Pop #78
“Look Away” (1964) R&B #14, Pop #73
“A Little Bit of Soap” (1965) Pop #95
“It Was Easier to Hurt Her” (1965) Pop #124
“That Goes to Show You” (1965) Pop #115
“I’ll Take Good Care of You” (1966) R&B #15, Pop #30
“My Baby” (1966) Pop #132
“What It Is” (1977) R&B #38