The Mighty Hannibal

As obscure R&B legends go, the Mighty Hannibal remains perhaps the most interesting to grace the stage or airwaves of the 1950s and '60s. A first cousin of the maligned Bill Clinton advisor Vernon Jordan, and a flamboyant player all his life, Hannibal's music was as exciting as he was. Born James Shaw he started singing doo wop as an Atlanta teenager, and eventually released a string of moderately successful (and generally highly praised) singles for a variety of independent labels. Shaw's first group, the Overalls in 1954, included future Pips Edward Patten and Merald Knight....