Joe South
(born Joseph Alfred Souter)
(February 28, 1940 – September 5, 2012)
was an American
singer-songwriter,
guitarist,
and record producer.
Best known for his songwriting,
South won the
Grammy Award
for Song of the Year
in 1970 for
"Games People Play"
and was again nominated
for the award in 1972
for
"Rose Garden".
Career
South had met and was
encouraged by Bill Lowery,
an Atlanta music publisher
and radio personality.
He began his recording career
in Atlanta with the
National Recording Corporation,
where he served as
staff guitarist along
with other
NRC artists
Ray Stevens
and
Jerry Reed.
South's earliest recordings
have been
re-released by NRC
on CD.
He soon returned to
Nashville with
The Manrando Group
and then on to
Charlie Wayne Felts Promotions.
Charlie Wayne Felts
is the cousin of Rockabilly
Hall of Fame Inductee
and Grand Ole Opry Member,
Narvel Felts.
South had his first top 50 hit
in July 1958
with a cover version of
the b-side of
The Big Bopper's hit single
"Chantilly Lace",
a novelty song called
"The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor".
Thereafter South would
concentrate mainly on songwriting.
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)
South was also a
prominent sideman,
playing guitar on
Tommy Roe's
"Sheila",
bass guitar on
Bob Dylan's
Blonde on Blonde album,
and the classic tremolo guitar
intro on
Aretha Franklin's
"Chain of Fools".
South played
electric guitar on
Simon & Garfunkel's
second album,
Sounds of Silence,
although
Al Gorgoni
and/or Vinnie Bell
feature on
the title track.
Billy Joe Royal
recorded five South songs:
"Down in the Boondocks"
(also covered in 1969 by Penny DeHaven),
"I Knew You When"
(later a hit for Donny Osmond, and Linda Ronstadt),
"Yo-Yo"
(later a hit for The Osmonds),
"Hush"
(later a U.S. No. 4 hit for Deep Purple,
"Somebody's Image"
which featured
Russell Morris
who later re-recorded
the song with his band
the Rubes,
and U.K. No. 2
for Kula Shaker),
and
"Rose Garden",
a country and pop hit
for singer
Lynn Anderson
Responding to
late 1960s issues,
South's style changed radically,
most evident in his
biggest single,
1969's pungent,
no-nonsense
"Games People Play"
purportedly inspired by
Eric Berne's book
of the same name
a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Accompanied by a
lush string sound,
an organ, and brass,
the production won
the Grammy Award
for Best Contemporary Song
and the Grammy Award
for Song of the Year.
South followed up with
"Birds of a Feather"
more successful as a cover by
The Raiders
that peaked on the Hot 100
at No. 23
on October
23–30, 1971
and two other soul-searchers,
the back-to-nature "
Don't It Make You Want to Go Home"
"Walk a Mile in My Shoes"
(also covered by
Elvis Presley in a
Las Vegas era version,
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Bryan Ferry,
and Coldcut).
South's most commercially
successful composition
was Lynn Anderson's
1970–1971 country–pop hit song
"Rose Garden",
which was a hit in
16 countries worldwide.
Anderson won a Grammy Award
for her vocals,
and South earned
two Grammy nominations for it,
as Best Country Song
and (general) Song of the Year.
South wrote more hits for
Anderson,
such as
"How Can I Unlove You"
(Billboard Country No. 1)
and
"Fool Me"
(Billboard Country No. 3).
Freddy Weller,
Jeannie C. Riley,
and
Penny DeHaven
also had hits on
the Billboard country chart
with South songs.
In addition,
other artists who have recorded
South-penned songs
include
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Johnny Cash,
Glen Campbell,
Loretta Lynn,
Carol Burnett,
Andy Williams,
Kitty Wells,
Dottie West,
Jim Nabors,
Arlen Roth,
Liz Anderson,
The Georgia Satellites,
Waylon Jennings,
Dolly Parton,
Ike & Tina Turner,
Hank Williams Jr.,
James Taylor,
the Tams,
Manfred Mann,
the Love Affair,
the Tremeloes,
and k. d. lang,
although most
covered versions of
South's best known songs.
Death
South died at his home
in Flowery Branch, Georgia,
northeast of Atlanta,
on
September 5, 2012,
of a heart attack.
He was 72 years old.
South and second wife
Jan Tant,
who died in 1999,
are buried in
Mount Harmony
Memorial Gardens Cemetery,
in Mableton
(Cobb County),
Georgia.
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