Garnet Mimms

Garnet Mimms earned his lasting recognition through the first version of “Cry Baby,” a song that later became a signature piece in Janis Joplin’s catalog. His urgent, church-rooted vocal style positioned him among the pioneering figures in soul music. Despite that early breakthrough, his career never again reached comparable commercial heights, leaving his body of work from the early through mid-1960s—marked by refined urban arrangements paired with raw, fervent singing—underrated by all but the most dedicated collectors, who frequently liken it to the achievements of Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. Born Garrett Mimms on November 16, 1933, in Ashland, West Virginia, he grew up primarily in Philadelphia, where he first sang in church during childhood and later joined local gospel ensembles as a teenager, among them the Evening Stars, the Harmonizing Four, and the Norfolk Four; the last of these groups issued his debut recording in 1953.

After several years of military service he returned to Philadelphia in 1958 and assembled the doo-wop quintet the Gainors, whose members included Sam Bell and former Evening Star Howard Tate, who would later enjoy solo acclaim. Over the following three years the group placed singles on Red Top (subsequently acquired by Cameo), Mercury between 1959 and 1960, and Tally Ho in 1961, yet none broke through. Mimms therefore departed with Bell to establish Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters, completed by Charles Boyer and Zola Pearnell. Seeking opportunities beyond Philadelphia’s American Bandstand-driven teen-idol environment, the ensemble relocated to New York in 1963, where they encountered songwriter-producer Bert Berns. He placed them on United Artists and paired them with fellow writer-producer Jerry Ragovoy.

Their initial collaboration yielded the proto-soul classic “Cry Baby,” which climbed to the pop Top Five and claimed the top spot on the R&B chart in 1963. A cover of Jerry Butler & the Impressions’ “For Your Precious Love” reached the pop Top 40 later that year, and its B-side, “Baby Don’t You Weep,” achieved the same ranking. The Enchanters and Mimms separated in 1964, after which the group continued with a replacement vocalist while Mimms issued solo material for United Artists. Ragovoy’s increasingly sleek productions reflected the Motown-led evolution of R&B, yet Mimms preserved the emotional intensity of his gospel background, creating a distinctive contrast for the period. Lesser-charting singles such as “It Was Easier to Hurt Her” and “I’ll Take Good Care of You”—the latter his final Top 40 entry in 1966—failed to match their artistic merit with sales. In 1967 United Artists shifted him to the Veep imprint, where “My Baby” also underperformed, though Janis Joplin would later include it on Pearl.

Mimms next followed Ragovoy to Verve for four singles that attracted scant attention, then spent a short period at MGM with similar results. He returned to the charts briefly in 1977 on Arista, recording as Garnet Mimms & the Truckin’ Company; the disco-funk track “What It Is” was helmed by Brass Construction’s Randy Muller. Eventually Mimms left the industry altogether upon embracing born-again Christianity.