O.B. McClinton

b. Obie Burnett McClinton, 25 April 1940, Senatobia, Mississippi, USA, d. 23 September 1987. The son of a Baptist preacher, McClinton was dissuaded from listening to R&B, but took solace in country music. Having worked for a time as a disc jockey at radio station WDIA in Memphis, he forged a career as a songwriter, penning country-soul ballads for Otis Redding (‘Keep Your Arms Around Me'), before finding the ideal foil in James Carr. Two of McClinton's compositions, ‘You've Got My Mind Messed Up' (1966) and ‘A Man Needs A Woman' (1968), stand among this singer's finest work. M...