BBC News | AMERICAS | Screamin' Jay Hawkins dies

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Saturday, 12 February, 2000, 21:22 GMT

Screamin' Jay Hawkins dies

Outrageous rhythm and blues musician Screamin' Jay Hawkins, famous for performing his trademark voodoo-inspired blues lying in a coffin, has died in Paris aged 70.

Hawkins died of a haemorrhage in hospital in the Neuilly suburb of Paris, where he had undergone an operation earlier in the week on an obstructed bowel.

I elected to be different, to be strange. If you want to call it crazy, do it. It makes sense to me, though, 'cause I can go to the bank on it
Screamin' Jay Hawkins

He scored his biggest hit in the 1950s with a hollering rendition of I Put A Spell On You and cultivated a reputation for stage outfits of gold and leopardskin and props including a smoking skull called Henry.

Born Jalacy Hawkins on 18 July 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was abandoned by his mother aged only 18 months and was reportedly adopted by native Americans.

"I came into this world black, naked and ugly. And no matter how much I accumulate here, it's a short journey. I will go out of this world black, naked and ugly. So I enjoy life," he told one interviewer.

Hawkins joined the army aged 14 and won several middleweight boxing titles before joining the army's entertainment unit, singing and playing the piano and tenor saxophone.

'Scream, baby, scream!'

He got his start in show business in the early 1950s playing with jazz and R&B musician Tiny Grimes and was said to have played briefly with Fats Domino, before getting fired for insisting on wearing a gold and leopardskin outfit and turban.

Legend has it that Hawkins earned his own nickname from a lady he met in a nightclub, who exhorted him to "Scream, baby, scream!".

I Put a Spell on You became a worldwide success and it has since been re-recorded by artists including Nina Simone, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Who.

Hawkins' flamboyant stage persona - he sang I Put a Spell On You in a coffin brandishing a voodoo totem and often appeared with a bone in his nose - became as famous as his aggressive singing style.

Despite an enforced break from touring after being badly burned by one of his flaming props, Hawkins continued to perform in the 1990s, opening for the Rolling Stones in Madison Square Garden in 1980.

In later life he found a second career as a movie actor after director Jim Jarmusch hired him to star in Mystery Train in 1989.

Internet Links: Screaming Jay Hawkins - fan site Screaming Jay Hawkins - Last Call Records
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