Joe Medwick (blues musician)

Joe Medwick (June 21, 1931 – April 12, 1992), probably born Medwick N. Veasey though some sources suggest Joe Medwick Masters or Joe Medwick Veasey, was an African-American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. He is officially credited with writing relatively few songs, including "Further On Up The Road", but is widely believed to have written many others, including "I Pity the Fool" and "Turn On Your Love Light". He sold all rights over many of his songs cheaply to record label owner Don Robey. Medwick also recorded under various names including Joe Veasey, Joe Masters and Joe Melvin.

He was born in Houston, Texas, where he attended Yates High School. It is suggested that he (or his parents) adopted the name "Joe" in tribute to the baseball player Joe "Ducky" Medwick, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1932 onwards. When in his teens, he sang with a gospel group, the Chosen Gospel Singers, before turning to secular music. After serving in Korea with the US Army, he returned to the Third Ward in Houston, where he performed in a blues club, Shady's Playhouse, often with pianist Teddy Reynolds (who later accompanied Bobby Bland), and increasingly spent his time writing lyrics and composing tunes for other blues musicians to sing.

According to the Texas State Historical Association:

"Medwick was often able to sell the resulting material almost immediately to local music producers. In doing so, he rarely asked for formal contracts to establish proper songwriting credit for himself, instead choosing to peddle the songs outright —thereby surrendering any rights to potential royalty payments — for ready cash. Thus, among his musician peers and industry insiders (if not always supported by publishing documentation), Medwick is commonly known to have written or co-written many songs which became hits for other artists with the writing credits typically attributed exclusively to the person who had purchased (and thereafter registered the copyrights on) the compositions."

...
Wikipedia