Jimmy Charles

Jimmy Charles, the singer with the crying style, was born in Patterson, NJ, in 1942. Before he sang professionally, he built up quite a local reputation wailing at churches and community functions. When Charles was 16, his uncle accompanied him to New York to try his luck at the amateur talent shows held at the Apollo. Lo and behold, Charles won the renowned contest for four consecutive weeks. Charles' uncle then hooked up his warbling kin with Phil Medley, a jack-of-all-trades who was an accomplished singer, songwriter, producer, and arranger. Impressed by the lad's delivery,...