PEGGY SCOTT & JO JO BENSON
Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson cracked the pop top forty three times in 1968 and ‘69. Starting in 1996, the former (as Peggy Scott-Adams) enjoyed a highly successful solo career.
Jo Jo Benson (real name: Joseph M. Hewell) was born in Phenix City, Alabama, on April 15, 1938, and later moved to Columbus, Ohio. He began singing in clubs as a teen-ager and, in the 1950s, served as a back-up singer for Rhythm & Blues star Chuck Willis (“C.C. Rider,” “What Am I Living For,” et al). After Willis died in 1958, Benson worked with bands like the Upsetters and the Enchanters.
Peggy Scott (real name: Stoutmeyer) was born in Opp, Alabama, on June 25, 1948. Her father died when she was two. Three years later, she and her mother relocated to Pensacola, Florida. Scott honed her singing skills in a church choir. Her mother promoted gospel shows, which allowed the girl to meet Sam Cooke (then-lead singer of the Soul Stirrers). As a teen-ager, Scott had her own group, the Gospel Harmonettes. After high school, she turned to secular music and toured with Ben E. King (“Spanish Harlem,” “Stand By Me”), who suggested the surname “Scott” for her.
Scott and Benson teamed up in the late 1960s and came to the attention of producer Shelby Singleton, who signed them to his Nashville-based label, SSS International. Their first release, the toe-tapping “Lover’s Holiday,” made the R&B top ten and the pop top forty and was awarded a Gold Record. Their follow-up single, “Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries,” was an even bigger hit that gleaned a Grammy nomination.
Scott and Benson racked up four chart hits before they left SSS International for Atco in late 1969. When none of their four releases for that label charted, they went their separate ways in 1971. Benson would end up owning several nightclubs in the Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. He was seriously wounded in a 1979 shooting incident. In 1983, he and Peggy Scott reunited for a one-off LP. In 1999, Benson recorded an acclaimed solo album, Reminiscing in the Jam Zone, followed in 2001 by Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha.
Meanwhile, Peggy Scott went to New York to record for Old Town, and later Mercury and RCA. She also worked as a lounge singer in Pensacola. By 1988, she had moved to California and married City Commissioner Robert L. Adams, Sr., of Compton. At that point, she hyphenated her last name to Scott-Adams and took a break from the music business.
At the urging of singer/songwriter/producer Jimmy Lewis, Peggy Scott-Adams returned to the studio in 1996 and recorded her solo debut album, Help Yourself. It produced the single “Bill,” about a wife who discovers that her husband is gay. The song was initially released only to blues stations but ended up getting considerable airplay on urban radio as well. It even reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, the album itself got to #72 in Billboard, #9 on the R&B chart, and #1 on the magazine’s Top Blues Albums survey.
Her 1997 album, Contagious, featured another single with an eyebrow-raising theme, “Spousal Abuse.” Scott-Adams followed it in 1999 with Undisputed Queen. Her 2000 release, Live in Alabama & More, produced two singles: “When I’m With You,” a ballad, and “Sweaty Men,” a dance number. The next album, Hot & Sassy, featured the singles “Mr. Right Or Mr. Wrong,” “If I’m Still Not Married,” and “Your Divorce Has Been Denied.” In 2006, she shifted gears with God Can, And He Will, a gospel release. In all, Peggy Scott-Adams put out ten albums between 1996 and 2012.
Jo Jo Benson, 76, was found dead of natural causes in a Columbus, Georgia, motel room on December 23, 2014.
Charted singles:
“Lover’s Holiday” (1968) R&B #8 Pop #31
“Pickin’ Wild Mountain Berries” (1968) R&B #8, Pop #27
“Soulshake” (1969) R&B #13, Pop #37
“I Want to Love You Baby” (1969) R&B #24, Pop #81
“Every Little Bit Hurts” (Peggy Scott, 1969) Pop #126
“Bill” (Peggy Scott-Adams, 1997) Pop #87
