Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters

Born Garnett Mimms on 16 November 1933 in Ashland, West Virginia, the singer had previously sung with two Philadelphia gospel ensembles, the Evening Stars and the Norfolk Four. In 1958 he assembled a five-piece secular outfit called the Gainors whose members also included the future soul luminary Howard Tate along with Sam Bell, Willie Combo and John Jefferson. During the ensuing three years the group issued unsuccessful singles on Cameo Records, Mercury Records and Tally-Ho, yet these early sides already displayed an emerging soul sensibility. The Gainors later re-formed as Garnet Mimms And The Enchanters, with Mimms and Bell now joined by Charles Boyer and Zola Pearnell. United Artists Records signed the quartet in 1963, placing them under the guidance of writer-producer Jerry Ragovoy, whose inventive arrangements yielded several landmark urban R&B performances. Their debut single, the impassioned “Cry Baby,” topped the US R&B chart and reached number 4 on the pop side, while follow-ups “Baby Don’t You Weep” and “For Your Precious Love” confirmed the group’s arrival. When the Enchanters disbanded in 1964, Mimms launched a solo career; the remaining members recruited a replacement vocalist but never escaped the shadow of their former frontman. Mimms’ own subsequent recordings—“Look Away,” “It Was Easier To Hurt Her” and “I’ll Take Good Care Of You”—achieved artistic peaks by contrasting his gospel upbringing with Ragovoy’s polished settings. Commercial response remained uneven, however, and in 1967 United Artists relegated him to its Veep subsidiary. Further releases “My Baby” and “Roll With The Punches” appeared, the latter issued solely in Britain. Ragovoy next moved Mimms to Verve Records, where the singer also worked alongside Howard Tate, yet the four resulting singles, though strong, attracted little attention. Mimms finally returned to the charts in 1977 when, credited with the Truckin’ Company, “What It Is” became a modest R&B success and reached number 44 in the UK. A born-again Christian, he has not recorded in many years.