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".
17 Facts About Joe South
2.
Joe South had met and was encouraged by Bill Lowery, an Atlanta music publisher and radio personality.
3.
Joe South 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.
4.
Joe South soon returned to Nashville with The Manrando Group and then on to Charlie Wayne Felts Promotions.
5.
Joe 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".
6.
In 1959, Joe South wrote two songs which were recorded by Gene Vincent: "I Might Have Known", which was on the album Sounds Like Gene Vincent, and "Gone Gone Gone", which was included on the album The Crazy Beat of Gene Vincent.
7.
Joe South was 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".
8.
Anderson won a Grammy Award for her vocals, and Joe South earned two Grammy nominations for it, as Best Country Song and Song of the Year.
9.
Joe South wrote more hits for Anderson, such as "How Can I Unlove You" and "Fool Me".
10.
Joe South lived for a time in the 1970s on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
11.
Joe South said this marriage helped turn things around, and Tant's inspiration helped him return to writing songs and occasional appearances in public.
12.
Joe South won two Grammy Awards, for Song of the Year and Best Contemporary Song, for the single "Games People Play", in 1969.
13.
Joe South was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979 and became a member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1981.
14.
On September 13,2003, South performed during the Georgia Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony and played with Buddy Buie, James B Cobb Jr.
15.
Joe South's final recording, "Oprah Cried", was made in 2009 and released as a bonus track on the 2010 re-release of the albums So the Seeds are Growing and A Look Inside on a CD collection combining both LPs for Australian label Raven Records.
16.
Joe South was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019.
17.
Joe South died at his home in Buford, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta, on September 5,2012, of heart failure.