Don Covay

Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s.

His most successful recordings include "Mercy, Mercy" (1964), "See-Saw" (1965), and "It's Better to Have (and Don't Need)" (1974). He also wrote "Pony Time", a US number 1 hit for Chubby Checker, and "Chain of Fools", a Grammy-winning song for Aretha Franklin. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994.

Writing in the Washington Post after his death, Terence McArdle said, "Mr. Covay’s career traversed nearly the entire spectrum of rhythm-and-blues music, from doo-wop to funk." He resettled in Washington, D.C., with his mother Helen Zimmerman Randolph and his siblings in the early 1950s and initially sang in the Cherry Keys, his family's gospel quartet. He crossed over to secular music as a member of the Rainbows and made his first recordings with that group in 1956.

Career Covay's solo career began in 1957 as part of the Little Richard Revue, when he worked both as the star's chauffeur and as an opening act. A single, "Bip Bop Bip", on which Covay was billed as "Pretty Boy", was released on Atlantic, produced by Little Richard and featuring his backing band, the Upsetters.

Over the next few years, Covay drifted from label to label, eventually signing with Columbia Records in 1961, but success remained elusive. Later that year, however, he had his first chart success, when "Pony Time", a song he co-wrote with fellow Rainbows member John Berry, reached No. 60 on the Billboard pop chart. It was issued by the small Arnold label and credited to his group, the Goodtimers. The song was later recorded by Chubby Checker and became a US No. 1 single. Gladys Knight & the Pips reached the US Top 20 with Covay's song "Letter Full of Tears", and Wilson Pickett recorded Covay's "I'm Gonna Cry (Cry Baby)" as his first single on Atlantic.

His singing career continued to falter until 1964, when he had one of his biggest pop hits on the small, Atlantic-distributed Rosemart label with "Mercy, Mercy". His relationship with Stax's staff has been described as difficult, both with its musicians and with its management. Cropper ascribed it to a clash between executive Jim Stewart's more conservative persona and Covay's unpredictable creative character. Cropper emphasized his appreciation of Covay: "I loved Don to death. We get along great but I don't think Jim and them understood Don. He thinks in different areas and he was kind of driving people bananas." and they recorded two albums: The House of Blue Lights and Different Strokes for Different Folks, before splitting up.

Covay joined Mercury Records in 1972, as an A&R executive, while also starting to record his album Superdude.

He released the album Adlib in 2000 on the Cannonball label, his first album in 23 years. Collaborating musicians included Paul Rodgers, Wilson Pickett, Lee Konitz, Otis Clay, Kim Simmonds, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, Paul Shaffer, Huey Lewis, and Dan Penn. The cover art was by Ronnie Wood.

Personal life and death In an interview published in the UK music weekly Record Mirror in 1967, Covay said, "Singing is my first love, but I like to express my thoughts in the songs I write as well as in the way I sing them. I am always looking for experiences we all know and try to relate them through both my writing and my singing."

Covay's wife, Yvonne Darby, died in 1981. A son, Donald Covay Jr., died in 2010.

Donald Covay died after a stroke on January 31, 2015, at the age of 78 at a hospital in Franklin Square, New York.

He was survived by his four children (Wendy Covay, Wanda Richardson, Ursula Covay Parkes, Antonio Covay), three brothers (Eddie Randolph, Thomas Randolph, Leroy Randolph), and five grandchildren.

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"Soul Meeting"The Soul Clan (Solomon Burke, Arthur Conley, Don Covay, Ben E. King, Joe Tex) 91 34

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