( Digital Sheet Music of Since I Met You Baby Composed b...)
Digital Sheet Music of Since I Met You Baby Composed by: Ivory Joe Hunter Performed by: Ivory Joe Hunter
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Hunter was born in Kirbyville, Texas, in 1911. His father was the guitarist Dave Hunter, and his mother sang gospel.
Although little is known of his early career, his piano style suggests the obvious influence of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. Hunter often said that as a child he had listened to their records, and he publicly acknowledged that Waller was his idol.
By the age of twenty, Hunter had formed his own band, and he soon became a well-known itinerant blues entertainer in Texas through his popular radio shows. He was first recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress folk-music programs in 1933, under the name Ivory Joe White; but it was not until he moved to the West Coast and began recording what some call "urban blues" for professional labels in 1937 that his career flourished. For his first commercial recordings he formed Johnny Moore's Three Blazers – Charles Brown, Johnny Moore, and Oscar Moore – to perform with him.
By 1945, he had organized his own Ivory record label and had a regional hit with "Blues at Sunrise, " even though the wartime restrictions on shellac limited the number of pressings. Hunter first reached the national audience on the King label with "Pretty Mama Blues, " recorded with several members of the Duke Ellington orchestra. During this period he frequently recorded with sidemen from Ellington's orchestra as well as white country musicians out of Nashville. He also played piano for Lowell Fulson on several of Fulson's recordings. A string of hits, including "Landlord Blues, " "Guess Who, " and "Jealous Heart" helped land him a contract with MGM, a major accomplishment for a black artist in 1949. In 1950, Hunter's monster hit "I Almost Lost My Mind" sold a million records and skyrocketed to the top of the R&B charts. In the same year, his "I Need You So" rose to the number-two spot. By now, Hunter had achieved major stature in the entertainment world. His smooth style and relaxed delivery appealed to many followers of traditional popular music as well as country-and-western fans. It was, however, in the newly emerging field of rhythm and blues – what was soon to be labeled "rock and roll" – that Ivory Joe's impact was most felt.
In 1954, Hunter signed on with Jerry Wexler's Atlantic label. Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun were making a concerted effort to cross black artists over to the white rock-and-roll market. Hunter's style suited the effort perfectly. He did smooth ballads ("Empty Arms, " "A Tear Fell") as well as up-tempo material ("I Got to Learn to Do the Mambo, " "You Can't Stop That Rocking and Rolling"), and soon turned out a series of hit songs. While he was with Atlantic, Hunter wrote and recorded what proved to be his biggest hit, "Since I Met You, Baby" (1956), which shot to the top of the R&B category and climbed to number twelve on the national pop charts. After leaving Atlantic in 1959, Hunter jumped from one record company to another, never staying with any single label long enough to complete an entire album. Consequently, many of his important works were re-released in album form after his death. Until then, however, he continued his prodigious songwriting career; conservative estimates place the number of songs he wrote at between two thousand and three thousand.
Superstars like Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, and Nat King Cole all recorded big hits from Hunter's songs, which helps explain why his songs are perhaps better known than he is. An extraordinarily talented and prolific artist, Hunter was equally adept with pop, ballad, or spiritual styles. He even broke into the country and western field – almost unheard of for a black R&B artist. Although there is not total agreement on who was the first black to record country music, it is generally recognized that Hunter predated Ray Charles's venture into the field by three years. So strong was his following that a benefit concert was held for him at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry shortly before his death. Recording at a time when blacks were still excluded from the larger white audience – Pat Boone's "cover" of "I Almost Lost My Mind" (1956) for example, was a much greater commercial success than Hunter's – Ivory Joe nonetheless is an important transitional figure. In the words of British ethnomusicologist Charlie Gillett, Hunter "attracted the white audience, and yet stayed near enough to the blues for the Negro audience to care about him. "
Hunter died in Memphis, Tenn.
( Digital Sheet Music of Since I Met You Baby Composed b...)
