James Purify, a member of the duo of James & Bobby Purify, was born 78 years ago.
Purify died on January 22, 2021, in Pensacola, Florida, of complications due to COVID-19.
The R&B singing duo’s biggest hit was "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached #6 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version #12 in the UK Singles Chart (in April 1976), and "Let Love Come Between Us" in 1967, which reached #23 in the U.S.
The original "Bobby Purify" (Robert Lee Dickey) was replaced by a second "Bobby Purify" (Ben Moore) in the 1970s. Robert died in 2011.
The vocal duo of James Lee Purify and his cousin, Robert Lee Dickey, formed in 1965. Dickey had previously worked as a guitarist with the Dothan Sextet. The duo were signed by Don Schroeder to Bell Records in 1966, with Dickey taking his cousin's surname as a stage name.
They had immediate success with "I'm Your Puppet," written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn and produced by Penn at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The record, released in September, 1966, spent 14 weeks on the U.S. chart and sold over a million copies.
Although "I'm Your Puppet" was their biggest hit, they had several further successes on both the Hot 100 and R&B chart in the U.S. in the late 1960s, including a revival of "Shake a Tail Feather," originally by The Five Du-Tones, and "Let Love Come Between Us."
In 1998, Moore went blind from severe glaucoma and completely dropped out of the music industry. With the encouragement of Ray Charles, however, he returned to performing and recording. Following a new Bobby Purify album, the Dan Penn-produced Better To Have It in 2005, he joined the gospel band, Blind Boys of Alabama.