J. Blackfoot
| J. Blackfoot | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Colbert |
| Born |
November 20, 1946 Greenville, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | November 30, 2011 (aged 65) Germantown, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul |
| Years active | 1967 – 2011 |
| Associated acts |
The Bar-Kays The Soul Children |
J. Blackfoot (born John Colbert; November 20, 1946 – November 30, 2011) was an American soul singer. A member of The Soul Children in the late 1960s and 1970s, he subsequently had a moderately successful solo career. His biggest hit was "Taxi", which reached the charts in both the US and UK in 1984.
John Colbert was born in Greenville, Mississippi, moving as a child to Memphis, Tennessee with his family. Generally known as "J." or "Jay", he acquired the nickname "Blackfoot" as a child, for his habit of walking barefoot on the tarred sidewalks. In 1965, while spending some time in Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville for car theft, he met Johnny Bragg, the founder of the Prisonaires vocal group. After leaving prison, Colbert recorded a single under his own name for the small Sur-Speed label, before returning to Memphis. There he was heard singing in a street corner group by David Porter of Stax Records. After the plane crash that claimed the lives of Otis Redding and four members of The Bar-Kays, Colbert joined the reconstituted group as lead singer, and performed with them for several months, but did not record.
In 1968, after Sam & Dave had moved from Stax to Atlantic Records, Porter and his songwriting and production partner Isaac Hayes decided to put together a new vocal group of two men and two women. They recruited Blackfoot, together with Norman West, Anita Louis, and Shelbra Bennett, to form The Soul Children. Between 1968 and 1978, The Soul Children had 15 hits on the R&B chart, including three that crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, and recorded seven albums.
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