Joe Tex was born in Rodgers Texas in 1935 and grew up with music playing saxophone at his high school and singing in his local choir. Tex’s participation in talent shows across the east coast brought him the fame he dreamed of, even if his life was an interesting and eclectic combination of events performances. However, Joe Tex was one of the most influential artists within the funk and soul genres, no matter who he had to tick off to make it happen! These are some artifacts that tell these stories of FAME, rivalries, and black religious organizations.
Capes, Exes, and… Shotguns?
Pictured here is James Browns infamous red cape that he would wear while on stage. It was an integral part of Brown’s performances as audiences would expect James Brown’s MC Danny May to place the cape on him during the song “Please, Please, Please”, only for Brown to dramatically rip the cape off as he burst out from the floor. You may be wondering what this has to do with Joe Tex. Well… the red cape was the boiling point of Brown and Tex’s rivalry and Brown even pulled a gun on Tex after making a mockery of him during his own homecoming concert. How did it get to that point? Lets set the stage for this hilariously over the top rivalry!
James Brown and Joe Tex became rivals right around the time Tex was signed to King Records in 1955. Joe Tex began doing what he called “microphone tricks” along with dance moves to accompany these tricks. The moves that James brown adopted for his own act were very similar and as Brown was called on the similarities, this is where the feud began. In fact when Tex left King and released “Baby, you’re Right”, Brown would soon release a cover of Tex’s song that would actually go on to top charts far higher than Tex’s original. However, the feud would only continue as Ex wives were involved. Joe Tex’s Ex wife Bea Ford would feature on James Brown’s “You’ve Got the Power”. Tex even received a letter from Brown after the recording stating that Brown was “done with her” and that Tex could take her back if he wanted. Rather than responding through a letter, Tex decided to make a statement of Brown’s antics by calling him out in his song “You Keep Her”. The lyrics read:
“James I got your letter, it came to me today. You said I could have my baby back, but I don’t want her that way.”
This would all come to a head in Macon, Georgia at the City Auditorium where James Brown would play his homecoming concert with Joe Tex being invited as an opener. Tex decided he’d continue to poke fun of James Brown being “The Clown Prince of Soul”, a name he was given due to his humorous imitations. He came out on stage with a red cape of his own and yelled “PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE someone help me get out of this CAPE!”, making a mockery of James Browns signature part of his performance. Brown was furious, and he decided he would not let Tex go unpunished.
After the show, Joe had decided to go celebrate the performance at a local nightclub where Otis Redding and the Pinetoppers where playing. James Brown, still angry about the performance, decided to surprise Tex at the club with two fully loaded shotguns and open fired, accidentally shooting six or seven people caught in the crossfire. After the failed attempt of shooting Tex, Brown then quickly got on his bus and fled the scene. It was also reported that Browns entourage quickly came to the scene and payed every one shot $100 as hush money. You adjust for inflation, and that is a considerable amount of cash for the time. While there would be no more altercations between Tex and Brown after the incident in Macon, subtle roasts in their music would still be present, keeping the rivalry from ever ending.
Finally Reaching FAME
This is the interior of the famous Muscle Shoals FAME studio in Alabama, where Joe Tex Would record “Hold on to What You Got”. I actually took this picture myself while touring the studio on April 8th of 2022. FAME recording studios is a historic site of music that defined a generation of recording, being a frequent home to artists such as Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.
Dial was formed in 1961 by Buddy Killen as a avenue for Joe Tex to release his records. Buddy Killen had made a name for himself as a Bass player in the Grand Ole Opry in the 1950s and recording demos for Tree record in the late fifties eventually owning 30 percent of the company in which he sold to help fund Dial. However, even with sufficient funding, Dial was not able to produce any outstanding hits for Joe Tex between 1960-and 1964. Up until 1964 Dial was independently owned by Killen. After handing over distribution to Atlantic rather than doing all of it himself, Killen finally had time to work with Tex one on one. Buddy Killen brought Joe Tex to FAME in hopes of writing a new song for Tex. While the original plan was to record a single by the name “Fresh Out of Tears”, After seven hours of failure, Killen asked Tex to play one his newer song he wrote but rather with “country harmony” and even if Tex was reluctant, he decided to play along. With famous engineer Tom Dowd at the helm ready to record, the demo takes of “Hold What You’ve Got” became the final recording of the song and went on to become Tex’s success story. Topping the R&B charts and placing #4 in the pop charts. The song would place Dial into the public’s eye as a hit machine with Joe Tex up until the 1970s.
A Fight For Equality
Joe Tex in 1966 became less active as a performer, allowing James Brown and other soul artists to overshadow his influence. However, this was a choice Tex made by devoting his time to the Nation of Islam. The ideals of the organization were deemed radical in the public eye as revolved around the complete separation of black religion from the religion that the “white devils” imposed on them… Christianity. Instead, the group revolved around the Islamic faith and promoting the ideals of black nationalism due to the increasing amount of hate crimes against Black Americans and finding pride in being a Black American through the religion. The organizations head, Elijah Muhammad, was active in spreading the word of his teachings, going so far as to convert Malcolm X and many other key figures during the civil rights era. This documentary, “The Hate that Hate Produced” was a key part in shaping the American view of the organization as a radical “black supremacy” organization rather than a religious group. Take a listen to these interviews, and listen not only what the interviewees say about Christianity , but how Mike Wallace shapes their responses as the population of Black Americans being “uncooperative supremacists”.
Joe Tex involvement in the moment was significant, even becoming a minister of the organization. In 1972, he would leave the recording industry all together and change his name to Yusef Hazziez by request of Muhammad. Joe Tex as a minister gave speeches to crowds of many organization members as he preached the word of Elijah Muhammad and spread the organization until Muhammad’s death in 1974. Here is Joe Tex giving a speech to organization members as a minister:
While after Joe Tex left the organization to reignite his career in the music industry in 1975 after the death of Elijah Muhammad, he’d only find little success in the era of disco with Buddy Killen and Joe Tex’s new band “Soul Crew”. Up until his sudden death in 1982 where Tex would be found dead in his swimming pool in his Texas home, Tex had fallen victim to drug and alcohol problems in his later life. While I cant validate the details of the claim, some say that Joe Tex was disappointed with Nation of Islam due to the organization claiming he was raising funds to build a hospital for the group to take advantage of Tex’s good nature, contributing to Tex’s depression post 1975. There is even a claim that those who vandalized his hotel in Chicago, stole thousands in jewelry, and wrote on the mirror “I Gotcha” in reference to one of his hit songs, were connected to the organization from the inside. I could not find any other sources that validated this claim, only the news article photo of Tex observing the scene of the crime.
Sources
Bickel, Christopher. “That Time James Brown Tried to Murder Joe Tex with a Shotgun.” DangerousMinds, 13 May 2015, https://dangerousminds.net/comments/that_time_james_brown_tried_to_murder_joe_tex_with_a_shotgun.
Eyries, Patrick. “Dial Album Discography.” Dial, 15 Apr. 2010, https://www.bsnpubs.com/florida/dial/dial.html.
Kreps, Daniel. “Danny Ray, James Brown’s Longtime ‘Cape Man’ and Emcee, Dead at 85.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 3 Feb. 2021, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/danny-ray-james-brown-cape-man-emcee-dead-1123420/.
Mcallsister, James. “James Brown versus Joe Tex.” Enzine Artices, 14 Feb. 2008, https://ezinearticles.com/?James-Brown-Versus-Joe-Tex&id=983967.
Shabazz, Omar. JOE TEX AND THE NATION OF ISLAM. YouTube, YouTube, 29 May 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymCNOP5U-k. Accessed 3 Apr. 2023.
Thurmond, Sarah. “A Tribute to Joe Tex, the Great Soul Singer from East Texas.” Texas Highways, 6 Aug. 2021, https://texashighways.com/travel-news/a-tribute-to-joe-tex-the-great-soul-singer-from-east-texas/.
Wirth, Nikolaus. “Nation of Islam (1930– ).” •, 30 Jan. 2020, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/nation-islam-1930/.
