Although Baby Huey enjoyed devoted local support within Chicago’s soul community, wider fame outside the city proved elusive, even with a dynamic stage presence and a release on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom imprint. James Ramey entered the world in Richmond, Indiana, during 1944 and projected an imposing physical presence onstage; a glandular condition maintained his weight between 350 and 400 pounds or higher. He launched his career performing in Chicago nightspots in 1963 alongside the Babysitters, his regular backing group, and quickly emerged as a favorite concert attraction. By the later 1960s his music had shifted from high-energy R&B toward a psychedelic strain of soul whose vocal approach invited comparisons with Otis Redding. Curtom issued his first album, The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, which contained multiple Curtis Mayfield compositions—most prominently the frequently sampled “Hard Times” and “Mighty Mighty Children”—alongside a reading of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Baby Huey did not survive to witness its appearance; mounting complications from his size and substance use culminated in a fatal, drug-related heart attack inside a Chicago hotel room on October 28, 1970. The record reached stores early the following year, after which the Babysitters continued briefly under a replacement vocalist, then-teenaged Chaka Khan, who would shortly achieve prominence fronting the funk ensemble Rufus. In subsequent decades the sole LP has attained rarity status among collectors of soul music.
