Jimmy Scott (born May 22, 1951) – Do You Get The Message (1967)

This stellar jam was co-produced by Motown Funk Brother Mike Terry and Mel Collins, Joshie Jo Armstead's husband and Giant Records partner.

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Jimmy D. Scott is a singer/songwriter who released some rare singles in the 1960s that became Northern soul classics, recorded for Westbound Records during the 70s, and wrote and released boogie funk gems in the early 80s.

He got his start when he cut his first single at age 14, produced by Clay McMurray who later helped run Motown’s quality control department. During the late sixties, he briefly recorded for Giant Records, the Chicago-based soul label (not to be confused with Jack Ashford’s Giant Records out of Detroit) that was co-founded by “Joshie” Jo Armstead and her husband Mel Collins. Armstead was Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson’s former songwriting partner.

Initially he was billed as Little Jimmy Scott on the swinging jam “It Rained 40 Days & Nights,” written by Armstead and released in 1967. Production was credited to Giant Enterprises, “under the supervision of” Armstead, Collins, and Motown Funk Brother saxophonist Andrew “Mike” Terry, who was Jack Ashford’s partner in their independent production company Pied Piper Productions.

On the flip was the stellar upbeat jam “Do You Get The Message,” co-written by the unknown songwriters J. Barrow and L. Gordon and co-produced under the supervision of Terry and Collins. Original copies today sell for $400 on average on Discogs.

After the single was released, they realized there was another Jimmy Scott, the jazz vocalist (who is today a legend but at that time not nearly as well known), who was the first to be nicknamed “Little Jimmy Scott.” So on his next single, he was simply billed as Jimmy Scott. The upbeat love anthem “Nobody But You” (1968) was written by Scott and co-produced by Terry and Collins, with “It Rained 40 Days & Nights” relegated to the B-side.

During the early to mid-seventies, Scott recorded for Armen Boladian’s Westbound and Eastbound labels. In 1979, he released the laid back slow jam “If I Lose Your Love” on the Detroit-based label Fee Records. The B-side to “Don’t Stop,” it was co-produced by Derek Dirckson and Michael Powell, and co-written by David Washington and Scott.

Also that year, Scott and L.J. Reynolds co-wrote one of the best songs on the Dramatics’ album Any Time Any Place. “Get With The Band And Dance” (1979) was arranged by Don Davis, Donald Cooke, and Wayne Henderson.

In 1985, Scott released the boogie funk jam “Love Language” on the Detroit label Earwax Records., which he wrote and produced.

Scott’s latest song “Enough Is Enough” (2022) is a stop-the-violence anthem that speaks out against the mass shooting epidemic in today’s America.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy D. Scott.

Further info:

“Jimmy D. Scott’s 'Enough is Enough',” by Mindy McCall, IndiePulse Music, February 4, 2023.

#soul #funk #disco #boogie #Detroit #MikeTerry #JimmyDScott