Jasmine 0945 - Garnet Mimms Feat. The Gainors. The Early Years (2015) - Rare R&B/Soul

The recordings of Garnet Mimms between 1963 and 1966 are rightly acknowledged as some of the most incredible early soul music ever made, and with Garnet's earliest work being off the market for a few years it seemed only right to revisit it. So here it is, 22 tracks he recorded as lead singer of his 'doowop-ish' vocal group, The Gainors. Although originally available on obscure singles during the late '50s much of this material was not released on LP until after his US pop chart success in 1963. This is was the first time these 22 tracks have appeared in one package.......Garnet Edward Mimms was born on November 16, 1933, in Ashland, West Virginia, one of seven children. Mimms began his career as a choral and gospel music singer at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and later ventured into the soul and rhythm and blues genres. After graduating from the all-black Stratton High School in Beckley in 1951, he and his family left Ashland for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is Best known for his original rendition of "Cry Baby," later a major item in Janis Joplin's repertoire, Garnet Mimms' pleading, gospel-derived intensity made him one of the earliest true soul singers. His legacy remains criminally underappreciated, since for some reason he never scored another hit on the level of "Cry Baby," but his output from the early to mid-'60s a blend of uptown sophistication and earthy, impassioned vocals  has earned comparisons to Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson from hardcore soul aficionados. Mimms was actually born Garrett Mimms in 1933. He was mostly raised in Philadelphia, and began singing in church as a boy, during his teen years, he performed with several area gospel groups, including the Evening Stars, the Harmonizing Four, and the Norfolk Four, with whom he cut his first record in 1953.Mimms subsequently served several years in the military, and upon his release, he returned to Philadelphia in 1958 and formed a doo wop quintet called the Gainors, whose ranks included Sam Bell and onetime Evening Star Howard Tate (later an acclaimed solo singer in his own right). The Gainors recorded singles for several labels over the next three years, including Red Top (later picked up by Cameo), Mercury (from 1959-1960), and Tally Ho (1961). Failing to produce a hit, Mimms left the group along with Bell and put together Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters, which were completed by Charles Boyer and Zola Pearnell. Thanks to Dick Clark's American Bandstand program, Philadelphia had become a haven for teen idols, and Mimms took his group to New York in 1963 in search of a more receptive scene. There they met songwriter/producer Bert Berns, who signed them to United Artists and teamed them with another songwriter/producer, Jerry Ragovoy. Mimms quickly struck gold with the proto-soul performance of "Cry Baby," a smash hit that reached the pop Top Five and topped the R&B charts in 1963. The follow-up, a cover of Jerry Butler & the Impressions' "For Your Precious Love," hit the pop Top 40 later that year, as did the flip side, "Baby Don't You Weep." Mimms and the Enchanters parted ways in 1964, the group to record separately with a new lead vocalist, while Mimms cut solo sides for UA steadily over the next few years. Ragovoy's productions became increasingly polished, mirroring the shift in R&B spearheaded by Motown, yet Mimms' vocals retained all the fire of his gospel training, making for a combination that was fairly unique for the time. Minor hits like "It Was Easier to Hurt Her" and "I'll Take Good Care of You" (the latter Mimms' last Top 40 hit in 1966) didn't perform nearly as well commercially as their quality seemed to indicate. In 1967, United Artists moved him to their Veep subsidiary, where "My Baby" was another inexplicable flop (it, too, was later covered by Janis Joplin on Pearl). Mimms subsequently followed Ragovoy to Verve, where he recorded four singles to little response; ditto for his brief stint at MGM. Mimms did make one last minor chart appearance in 1977, recording for Arista as Garnet Mimms & the Truckin' Company, the disco-funk single "What It Is" was produced by Brass Construction mastermind Randy Muller. Mimms retired from the music business permanently after becoming a born-again Christian. He recorded 4 albums for US,1 apiece for Arista,Evidence,& grand Prix Series. A huge and popular artist over here in the uk with the soul fraternity and on the Northern Scene.A very underated talent indeed,to me a LEGEND!
 

AMM

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