Soul great Joe Simon has died, it has been confirmed.
The Grammy award wining R&B star enjoyed a lengthy career, notching up a total of 38 hits in the Top 40 of the US R&B Charts.
Big hits include 1969 chart-topper ‘The Chokin Kind’ in 1969, and 1971’s evergreen soul staple ‘Drowning In The Sea Of Love’.
Navigating funk and disco with soulful aplomb, his song ‘Before The Night Is Over’ was sampled for the fulcrum of OutKast’s 2001 hit ‘So Fresh, So Clean’.
Billboard report that the Louisiana born singer died on Monday in his hometown close to Chicago – he was 85 years old.
Fellow R&B great Bettye LaVette writes: “We lost another one of the good guys. RIP Rhythm & Blues legend, Joe Simon. One of the nicest men that I ever met in show business.”
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