Carr, James

▪ 2002

      American soul singer (b. June 13, 1942, Clarksdale, Miss.—d. Jan. 7, 2001, Memphis, Tenn.), was one of the most talented soul singers of the 1960s and '70s. Carr performed with gospel groups from the age of nine and, in the early 1960s, began a solo career after signing with a recording company. He made his first single, “The Word Is Out,” in 1964. Two years later he recorded two singles that became classics of the soul genre, “You've Got My Mind Messed Up” and “Dark End of the Street.” Carr, whose career was hampered by psychiatric problems, toured only occasionally after the late 1970s but made a memorable appearance at the London Blues Festival in 1996. The Essential James Carr, a collection of his recordings from 1964 to 1969, was released in 1995.

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