Soul's Forgotten Superstar

Shy and suffering with mental illness, what James Carr lacked in charisma he made up for in extraordinary vocals

One of soul’s finest singers is ironically one of its least-known. Born in 1942, James Carr grew up in Memphis, and cut his teeth singing with a variety of gospel groups throughout the

1960s. Having failed to find success in Memphis, he released his first single

You’ve Got My Mind Messed Up with the entrepreneurial producer, Quinton Claunch. His follow-up, The Dark End Of

The Street, became an instant classic, covered by everyone from Aretha Franklin to Linda Ronstadt – none of whom ever rose to the heights of Carr’s raw emotion, overwhelming power and earth-shaking performance.

Able to catapult from a roaring deep baritone to a shrill shriek in an instant, he never missed a note or beat. Although Carr was largely absent during the 70s and 80s, he had a brief 90s comeback with two records, before dying in 2001. Years earlier, when the singer Dan Penn was touring the UK, he commented, “Everybody keeps asking me which is my favourite version of The

Dark End Of The Street – as if there was any other than James Carr’s. Not even mine. I’ll sing it anyway. But I wish I had James here.”