Joe South & The Believers
Biography
Joe South (born Joseph Alfred Souter, 28 February 1940, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
In 1959, South wrote two songs which were recorded by Gene Vincent: "I Might Have Known", which was on the album Sounds Like Gene Vincent (Capitol Records, 1959) and "Gone Gone Gone" which was included on the album The Crazy Beat of Gene Vincent (Capitol Records, 1963).
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He had met and was encouraged by Bill Lowery, an Atlanta music publisher and radio personality. He began his recording career in Atlanta with National Recording Corporation, where he served as staff guitarist along with other NRC artists Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed. Souths earliest recordings have been re-released by NRC on CD.
South had several hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s with songs such as "Dont It Make You Wanna Go Home" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes". His biggest single was "Games People Play" (1968), a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song, the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Souths compositions have been recorded by many artists. They include Billy Joe Royals hits "Down in the Boondocks" and "Hush" (later a hit for Deep Purple and Kula Shaker), the Osmonds hit "Yo-Yo," and Elvis Presleys Las Vegas-era version of "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", also recorded by Bryan Ferry and Coldcut. Souths most commercially successful composition is Lynn Andersons 1971 country/pop monster hit "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden", which was a hit in 16 countries worldwide and translated into many languages(in Italian, for example, with the title "Ti chiedo scusa", which means in English "I ask you my pardon", a text written by Paolo Limiti and sung by the local TV star and singer Loretta Goggi). Lynn Anderson won a Grammy Award for her vocals and South won a Grammy Award for writing the song. South would go on to write more hits for Anderson such as, "How Can I Unlove You" (Billboard #1) and "Fool Me" (Billboard #3).
South was also a prominent sideman, playing guitar on Aretha Franklins "Chain of Fools", and Tommy Roes "Sheila," as well as appearing on Bob Dylans album Blonde on Blonde.
The suicide of his brother, Tommy, drove South into a deep depression. Tommy had been his backing bands drummer and accompanied South not only in live performances, but also on recording sessions when South produced hits for other artists, including Billy Joe Royal, Sandy Posey, and Friend and Lover.
South was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979. On 13 September 2003 South was inducted into Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and played together with Buddy Buie, J.R. Cobb and Chips Moman at the induction ceremony.
In 1988 Dutch DJ, Jan Donkers, interviewed South for VPRO-radio. The radio show that aired the interview also played four new songs by South, but a new record was not released.
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