Joe Tex (1965) Hold What Youve Got +4 (2017)

In hindsight, it seems impossible that Joe Tex couldn't get a record contract in the early '60s. Turned down by numerous labels, music publisher/friend Buddy Killen started Dial Records for the singer. It was still hard going for the singer with his initial singles failing to garner chart success. Disgusted, Tex wanted to quit. Killen urged him to try one more recording session to come up with a hit. In November 1964, Killen paid for sessions at Rick Hall's Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Out of those sessions came "Hold What You Got." In a move that predated digital sampling by decades, producer Killen copied and re-added one chorus section several times. Distributed through Atlantic Records, "Hold What You Got" went to number two R&B and number five pop in early 1965. The Hold What You Got LP also included "You Got What It Takes," "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show," and "You Better Get It." Tex went on to have five number one R&B singles, three gold singles -- "Skinny Legs and All," "I Gotcha," and "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" -- and seven Top 40 pop hits.