Billy Paul 1934 – 2016
I don’t want this to become an obituary page so I’ll return to reviewing new music soon since new stuff is piling up on my desk, but I’m sad to hear that we have lost yet another legendary musician and singer: Billy Paul has died at age 81. He is best known of course for his international hit “Me And Mrs. Jones”, but has recorded much more than that.
In fact, he first started back in 1952 for Jubilee Records but his first charted single was the 1972 opus which went to number one and was culled from his “360 Degrees Of Billy Paul” album. His first charted LP was “Ebony Woman” from a 1970 Neptune Records session. His most memorable songs though were all recorded for the immortal Philadelphia International Records, from “Going East” in 1971 to “Only The Strong Survive” in 1978.
His classic songs include “Am I Black Enough For You”, “Brown Baby”, “Be Truthful To Me”, “Let’s Make A Baby”, “Thanks For Saving My Life”, or his version of “Your Song”. Billy continued recording for various labels in the 80s, 90s and beyond.
