The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (LP)

The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (LP)The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is an audiophile necessity. Recorded in 1970, it is the only solo album by James "Baby Huey" Ramey. After his untimely death at the age of 26, Curtis Mayfield finished the production of the record and released it via his Curtom Records label in 1971. With tracks like "Hard Times," which has been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, Ghostface Killah, among others, and gorgeous covers of "A Change Is Going To

The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is an audiophile necessity. Recorded in 1970, it is the only solo album by James "Baby Huey" Ramey. After his untimely death at the age of 26, Curtis Mayfield finished the production of the record and released it via his Curtom Records label in 1971. With tracks like "Hard Times," which has been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, Ghostface Killah, among others, and gorgeous covers of "A Change Is Going To Come" and "California Dreamin'," this album has become a cult classic among hip-hop and soul fans alike. In celebration of Black Music Month, this album has been cut from the original tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and is pressed locally on 180 gram premium-quality vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing's brand new plant in Oxnard, California, as part of Rhino's new Rhino Reserve line.

About Baby Huey:

James Thomas Ramey, better known by his stage name "Baby Huey" (taken from the Paramount Pictures animated giant cartoon duckling), was born in Richmond, Indiana but had move to Chicago in the early 1960s to front his band The Babysitters with co-founders Melvin Deacon Jones on organ/trumpet and Johnny Ross on guitar. By the time recording took place for The Living Legend, only Huey and Jones remained from the original line up. Deacon Jones would go on to play with Freddie King and John Lee Hooker. Because of a glandular disorder, Huey weighed close to 400 lbs. at times which contributed to his larger than life stage presence as well as a host of health problems. During the later 1960s the Babysitters followed the lead of Sly and the Family Stone and became a psychedelic soul act, with Huey dressing up in elaborate robes and adding rhymes to their stage act. According to band members at the time, Huey's rhymes were very similar in style to those later popularized by rappers in Hip Hop. 

Tracklist:

A1        Listen To Me    
A2        Mama Get Yourself Together    
A3        A Change Is Going To Come    
B1        Mighty, Mighty    
B2        Hard Times    
B3        California Dreaming    
B4        Running    
B5        One Dragon Two Dragon