Deep Groove Encyclopedia - Baby Huey and the Babysitters

Baby Huey and the Babysitters

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Click below for a Baby Huey sample:

Although their career was rather brief, Baby Huey and the Babysitters were Chicago legends, thanks to their exuberant live performances and the charisma of their leader, 400 pound singer Baby Huey (real name: James Ramey). After half a decade of wowing audiences with their slightly psychedelicized soul, Curtis Mayfield signed them to his Curtom label. Their sole LP is a soul classic, known for the strident anthems "Mighty Mighty" and "Hard Times." The latter has been sampled at least a dozen times by acts ranging from Super Cat and the Chemical Brothers to Ice Cube and A Tribe Called Quest.

Before the album was released, Ramey died on October 28, 1970 of a heart attack, leaving the band without its leader. An unfortunate loss, as Huey was allegedly friends with Jimi Hendrix, and given their mutual interest in making twisted black music, who knows if they would have collaborated had they lived.

There is a band from Virginia that also goes by the name of Baby Huey and the Babysitters, but they have no connection to the group discussed here.

Baby Huey and the Babysitters' Deepest Groove

The Baby Huey Story: Living Legend (Curtom, 1971)
Out of print for decades, this was reissued a few years ago. I am not sure if it is still available; I had heard there were licensing problems that caused it to be pulled from the market. If you see it, snatch it up.