Jewel Akens

Jewel Akens (born 12 September 1933, Houston, Texas [http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/jewel_akens.htm Rockabilly.nl] ] ) is an African-American singer and record producer.

He first recorded with Eddie Daniels as Jewel and Eddie on the Silver Records label in 1960. A number of his recordings featured Eddie Cochran on guitar.

He later went solo and recorded "The Birds And The Bees" in 1965, on the Era Records label. The single went to Number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, and Number 2 on the Cash Box chart. Across the Pond it reached Number 29 in the UK Singles Chart.cite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 17
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5] But the follow-up, "Georgie Porgie" only reached Number 68.

Akens has toured regularly since 1965 and includes a tribute to his mentor, Sam Cooke, in most of his shows. [ [http://www.tsimon.com/akens.htm Tsimon.com] ] Akens also recorded what he considered to be his finest recordings, cover versions of Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One" and Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On". He toured with The Monkees and continued to record until the mid 1970s in a variety of styles. In 1973 he co-produced the critically acclaimed "Super Taylors", a duet album of Southern soul by Ted Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor. In 1989-91 Akens recorded three singles with a group called The Feathers.

However, lack of further commercial success leaves him labelled as a one-hit wonder.

ee also

*One-hit wonders in the UK
*List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

References

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jpfuxqe5ld6e~T1 AMG biography]
* [http://www.tsimon.com/akens.htm Page on Akens]
* [http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/jakens.htm Discography]