1. Joe Tex's career started after he was signed to King Records in 1955 following four wins at the Apollo Theater.
22 Facts About Joe Tex
1. 2.
Joe Tex played baritone saxophone in the high-school band and sang in a local Pentecostal church choir.
3.
Joe Tex entered several talent shows, and after an important win in Houston, he won $300 and a trip to New York City.
4.
Joe Tex took part in the amateur portion of the Apollo Theater, winning first place four times, which led to his discovery by Henry Glover, who offered him a contract with King Records.
5.
Joe Tex recorded for King Records between 1955 and 1957 with little success.
6.
Joe Tex later claimed he sold musical rights to the composition "Fever" to King Records staff to get money to pay his rent.
7.
The song's credited songwriters, Otis Blackwell and Joe Cooley, disputed Tex's claims.
8.
Labelmate Little Willie John had a hit with "Fever", which inspired Joe Tex to write the first of his answer songs, "Pneumonia".
9.
Joe Tex perfected the microphone tricks and dance moves that defined the rest of his career.
10.
Joe Tex recorded and finally scored his first hit, "Hold What You've Got", in November 1964 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
11.
Joe Tex was unconvinced the song would be a hit and advised Killen not to release it.
12.
Joe Tex followed that with two successive albums, Hold On To What You've Got and The New Boss.
13.
Joe Tex recorded his next big hit, "I Gotcha", in December 1971.
14.
Joe Tex was offered a gold disc of the song on March 22,1972.
15.
Joe Tex's last hit, "Ain't Gonna Bump No More ", was released in 1977 and peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100 and number 2 in the UK.
16.
In 1960, Joe Tex left King and recorded a few songs for Detroit-based Anna Records; one of the songs he recorded was the ballad "Baby, You're Right".
17.
Shortly afterward, Joe Tex got a personal letter from Brown telling him that he was through with Ford and if Joe Tex wanted her back, he could have her.
18.
Joe Tex responded by recording the diss record "You Keep Her" in 1962.
19.
Joe Tex later claimed that Brown stole his dance moves and his microphone stand tricks.
20.
Joe Tex challenged Brown to contest who "the real soul brother" was.
21.
Joe Tex had two daughters, Eartha Doucet and Leslie Arrington, and four sons, Joseph Arrington III, Ramadan Hazziez, Jwaade Hazziez, and Joseph Hazziez.
22.
In early August 1982, Joe Tex was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at his home in Navasota, after which he was revived in hospital and sent home.