DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Joseph Arrington, Jr. — the man the world came to know as Joe Tex. Now, Rogers, Texas isn't the kind of town that gets mentioned in the same breath as New York or Nashville — but on August 8, 1935, a sharecropping family there welcomed a boy who would one day perform on one of the most storied stages in American music. Joseph Arrington, Jr.
That's the name on the birth record. The name on the marquee would come later. Arrington grew up, made his way to Baytown in Harris County, and attended Carver High School — this is the era of segregation, mind you — and the young man was soaking up everything around him.
Church services. School performances. The Houston nightclub scene.
He had ears for all of it, and he was filing it away. Then came the moment. A local talent show.
Arrington entered, Arrington won, and that victory came with a paid trip to Harlem, New York. Not just Harlem — the Apollo Theater. The prestigious Apollo Theater.
That's not a footnote; that's a baptism by fire, and he walked through it. Performing now under the name Joe Tex, Arrington signed his first recording deal — with King Records, in the mid-1950s. But here's where the story gets honest: it was a rocky start.
The hits didn't come easy. The recognition didn't pour in. Joe Tex was out there grinding while the world wasn't quite paying attention yet.
Then 1964 arrived, and with it came a breakout single called Hold on to What You've Got. And oh, the irony in that title — because Joe Tex had been holding on for years. Now here's the part that separates him from the crowd.
He wasn't just singing. He was innovating. In rhythm and blues, he slowed the tempo down and started adding spoken verses — a style he himself called rapping.
He called it rapping. In the 1950s and into the 1960s. The marker calls him a transitional singer, and that's exactly right — he carried the easygoing ballads of the 1950s all the way into the lively funk of the early 1970s.
That transition landed him a platinum hit: I Gotcha. But fame and fortune, the marker tells us, left Joe Tex with a void. And a man with a void will go looking for something to fill it.
He found that something in the religion of The Nation of Islam. In 1972, Arrington walked away from his growing musical career — walked away from Joe Tex altogether — and became Yusef Hazziez. In the years that followed, he served as an advocate for The Nation of Islam.
Then, in 1975, his spiritual mentor died. And something shifted. Hazziez took back his stage name.
Joe Tex returned to music. He had one more big hit left in him: I Ain't Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman. After that, he toured the oldies circuit, carrying those songs to audiences who remembered where they'd been when they first heard them.
On August 12, 1982, Joe Tex died of a heart attack. The marker notes plainly that he died young. Born in a sharecropping family in Rogers, Texas.
Performed at the Apollo. Called what he was doing rapping before most people had a word for it. One of the most influential — and the marker is careful to add underappreciated — innovators in rock, funk, and rap music history.
Some legacies don't need a loud entrance. They just need time. And Joe Tex's is still echoing.
What the marker says
Born to a sharecropping family in Rogers on August 8, 1935, Joseph Arrington, Jr., is considered one of the most influential, but underappreciated, innovators in rock, funk and rap music history. While at Carver High School in Baytown, Harris County, during the era of segregation, he drew inspiration from church services, school performances and the Houston nightclub scene. After winning a local talent show, Arrington received a paid trip to Harlem, New York, where he performed at the prestigious Apollo Theater. Performing under the name “Joe Tex,” Arrington signed his first recording deal with King Records in the mid-1950s but had a rocky start to his career. His first big hit, however, came in 1964 with the breakout single “Hold on to What You’ve Got.” An innovator in rhythm and blues, he slowed the tempo, adding spoken verses in a style he called “rapping.” Joe Tex became a transitional singer who made the switch from easygoing ballads in the 1950s to lively funk in the early 1970s with his platinum hit “I Gotcha.” Fame and fortune evidently left Joe Tex with a void in his life and he filled it by embracing the religion of The Nation of Islam. In 1972, Arrington abandoned his growing musical career and became Yusef Hazziez, serving in the following years as an advocate for The Nation of Islam. Following the death of his spiritual mentor in 1975, Hazziez took back his stage name and returned to his music career. After his last big hit, “I Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman),” he toured the oldies circuit until his death from a heart attack on August 12, 1982. Although he died young, the artist known as Joe Tex continues to have a lasting influence on many musical genres. (2016)