Jerry Williams, Jr.
| Swamp Dogg | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jerry Williams, Jr. |
| Also known as | Little Jerry Little Jerry Williams |
| Born |
July 12, 1942 Portsmouth, Virginia, US |
| Genres | Soul, R&B, country, disco |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1954–present |
| Labels | Mechanic, Calla, Musicor, Cotillion, Canyon, Elektra, Stone Dogg, Alive Naturalsound Records |
| Website | Official website |
Jerry Williams, Jr. (born July 12, 1942), often credited under his pseudonym Swamp Dogg, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. After recording as Little Jerry and Little Jerry Williams in the 1950s and 1960s, he reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg, releasing a series of satirical, offbeat, and eccentric recordings, as well as continuing to write and produce for other musicians. He is described at Allmusic as "one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music."
Williams was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. He made his first recording, "HTD Blues (Hardsick Troublesome Downout Blues)", for the Mechanic record label in 1954, when he was aged 12. From 1960, he released occasional singles for a variety of labels, including the self-written "I'm The Lover Man" in 1964, which was first issued on the Southern Sound label and was then picked up by the larger Loma label, almost breaking into the national Billboard Hot 100. He also wrote successfully for other musicians, including "Big Party" for Barbara and the Browns.
As Little Jerry Williams, he had his first national chart success in 1966, when "Baby You're My Everything", which he co-wrote and produced, was released on the Calla label and rose to #32 on the R&B chart, again just missing the Hot 100. He released several more singles on Calla through to 1967, by now credited simply as Jerry Williams, but with little commercial success, although some of his records such as "If You Ask Me (Because I Love You)" later became staples of the Northern Soul movement in the UK.
By late 1967 he started working in A&R and other duties for the Musicor label in New York. In 1968 he co-wrote, with Charlie Foxx, Gene Pitney's up-tempo hit, "She's a Heartbreaker", which Williams also claimed to have produced, saying: "I produced the motherfuck out of it... [and] Charlie Foxx put me down on the label as “vocal arranger.” What the fuck is that? When they took out full-page ads in Billboard and Cashbox, there was a picture of Charlie on one side and a picture of Gene Pitney on the other and no mention of me.”
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Wikipedia