The Chocolate Cowboy

On Saturday, I made what turns out to have been a really half-assed attempt at sprinkling my playlist with some songs that were relevant to MLK Day, chiefly by playing 3 Charley Pride songs. As always, my wanderings, tangential musings, and borderline idiocy are quickly corrected and/or shorn up by my listening and/or reading audience. A big shout out to Dave Leach (and, in the future, to his kid, Andy) for giving me the assignment of obtaining more music by "The Chocolate Cowboy."

From the MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music:

McCLINTON, O. B.
(b Obie Burnett McClinton, 25 April '40, Senatobia MS; d 23 Sep. '87, Nashville) Singer, songwriter, guitarist with hits in country chart '70s. Wrote a song early '70s called 'The Other One' (Charley Pride being a much better-known black country singer); he also called himself 'The Chocolate Cowboy'. Father was clergyman and a farmer (owned his own spread, unusual in Mississippi then). Infl. by Hank Williams as a child; disliked farm work, ran away from home, got as far as Memphis, spent all his money on a guitar. Won scholarship to college to sing in choir; worked as disc jockey in Memphis where he met Al Bell; began writing songs while in US Air Force; wrote R&B for Fame Publishing in Muscle Shoals (songs recorded by Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, others); signed by Bell (then a Stax executive) to new Enterprise subsidiary as country singer: first country chart single was 'Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You'. Dis- satisfied with debut LP O. B. McClinton Country '72, prod. his own Live At Randy's Rodeo '73, also prod. other artists. Hits incl. 'Six Pack Of Trouble' '72, 'Yours And Mine' '75; switched to Epic for 'Hello, This Is Anna' and 'Natural Love' '78; on Sunbird early '80s with 'Not Exactly Free'. Died of cancer.

From Century of Country:

When African-American Country star O.B. McClinton was sick with abdominal cancer, the Country music community rallied around and put on a star-studded benefit concert to help to defray his medical expenses. "The Chocolate Cowboy," as he styled himself, was on an upward swing and he had just released a new TV marketed album called The Only One, which O.B considered his best album yet. His father, Rev. G.A. McClinton, had three sons and four daughters and the family grew up on his 700-acre ranch near Memphis. O.B., the second youngest, was around the age of 9 or 10, when he began to dream of being in show business while doing his mundane chores around the farm. Listening to Hank Williams sparked his initial interest in Country music and subconsciously shaped his singing style. After high school, he ran away from home and headed for San Francisco. However, he only reached Memphis and there, in a Beale Street shop, he bought his first guitar. With his travel money gone, O.B. returned home. He won a choir scholarship to Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, where he sang in the a cappella choir. He graduated in 1966 after four years� study. Soon, he was drafted into the Army, but as this didn�t please him, he volunteered for the Air Force during December 1966. While in the Armed Forces, he began winning service talent shows, and as a result, he spent a lot of time entertaining and writing R & B songs. This led to a writing contract from Fame Publishing Company in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He remained in the services for four years and after discharge, his original R & B songs became popular. James Carr recorded Baby You Got Your Mind Messed Up and A Man Needs A Woman, Clarence Carter released Why You Can�t Measure and the great Otis Reading cut Keep Your Arms Around Me. Although O.B. tried to be an R & B singer, he was not successful. When he was in the Air Force, a friend had introduced him to a Charley Pride album and this encouraged him to further his career. He wrote some Country songs and then made a demo tape. One day in a hotel, he met an ex-deejay friend of his named Al Bell, who had since become a top executive for Stax Records and O.B. played him his Country demo tape. Bell was impressed and asked who the singer was. When McClinton told him who it was, Al refused to believe him and the only way he could convince him was to sing along with the tapes. The result of this chance meeting was a recording contract signed on January 12, 1971, and O.B. became the first Country artist on the Stax Country label, Enterprise. In all, he had seven chart hits on the label, from 1972-1975, of which the most successful were, Don�t Let the Green Grass Fool You (Top 40, 1972) and My Whole World Is Falling Down (Top 40, 1973). After Stax went out of business in 1975, O.B. moved over to Mercury the following year and had a basement level chart single with It�s So Good Lovin� You. For a couple of years, O.B. relied on his live work and in 1978 Epic signed him and released Hello, This is Anna, which featured Peggy Jo Adams and Natural Love, both of which charted at the lower levels. The following year, Soap reached the Top 60. In 1980, he moved to Sunbird and had a moderate hit with Not Exactly Free, on which he was credited as "The Chocolate Cowboy." This was his last chart record until 1984, when he had a Top 70 single, on the Moon Shine label, entitled Honky Tonk Tan, which seemed almost autobiographical. In 1987, O.B. was once more back on Epic Records with a hit single, Turn The Music On, when he succumbed to cancer after a year-long battle. His death was announced on TNN�s Nashville Now by Ralph Emery.