In the 1970s Billy Paul

When you hear this name you have that beautiful song flow through your mind. The one that we all thought was a little bit naughty back in the time. After all it was all about having an affair was it not?

Billy Paul was born in 1934 as Paul Williams and in the late 60s was touring clubs and bars in Philadelphia sharing the stage with such names as Roberta Flack and Miles Davis.

His first solo single debut hit in 1972 was the beautiful Me And Mrs Jones. A classic tale of infidelity, Paul’s unorthodox style enhanced the ballad’s sense of guilt. His later releases included ‘Thanks For Saving My Life’ (1974), which did not chart in the UK.

Thanks for saving my life

For picking me up

Dusting me off

Making me feel like

I'm living again

(Like I'm living again)

I'm so glad I ran into you

If I hadn't seen you

I would have been through

Moving on to 1976 and a smaller hit with Let’s Make A Baby, followed by Let ’Em In’ (1977) which was an adaptation of the Paul McCartney hit to emphasize lyrical references to Dr. Martin Luther King. I remember this  song had huge radio play on Capital Radio in London, but it was a not a huge national hit.

In Memory Billy Paul

He was born Paul Williams, but he was better  known us as Billy Paul from Pennsylvania USA. He was famously sacked from Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes for not dancing during performances.

Billy was a personal friend to the late Marvin Gaye and would often refer to each other as brothers.

In the UK, his first single was in 1972 was the famous Me and Mrs Jones reaching No.12 and No.1 in the States and won him a deserved Grammy too.

Billy Paul died in April 2016 aged 81.

From Wikipedia

The gold album and platinum single broke the artist on world charts, including the United Kingdom where the single entered the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart reaching number 12 in early 1973 In the years since then, the song has been covered numerous times, most notably by Freddie Jackson in 1992 and Michael Bublé in 2007. Paul recalled the Grammy win and the song's overall success: "Oh man! I was up against Ray Charles, I was up against Curtis Mayfield, I was up against Isaac Hayes. I was in the Wilberforce University in Ohio, I had to go do a homecoming – my wife and her mother went. And when I see Ringo Starr call my name, I said Ohhh... Yeah... The most sobering thing is to have a number one record across the whole entire world in all languages. It’s a masterpiece, it’s a classic."The song was PIR's first No. 1. In addition, the label was enjoying considerable success with their other artists including the O'Jays and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Paul remembered the atmosphere at the label: "It was like a family full of music. It was like music round the clock, you know."

Billy Paul - Me and Mrs. Jones | The story behind the song

The singles that followed did not even make the top thirty in the UK,but they were still classics. These included Thanks For Saving My Life.