Jimmy Castor

James Walter Castor (June 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American funk, R&B and soul musician. He is credited with vocals, saxophone and composition. He is best known for songs such as "It's Just Begun", "The Bertha Butt Boogie", and his biggest hit single, the million-seller "Troglodyte (Cave Man)." Castor has been described as "one of the most sampled artists in music history" by the BBC.

Musical career He was born in Manhattan, New York, United States. He started a group called Jimmy and the Juniors, who in 1956 recorded the original version of "I Promise to Remember", which according to Castor Mercury Records did not want to promote. George Goldner had the famous doo-wop group The Teenagers record it and it became their third hit single. Later, Castor was asked to join the Teenagers. In late 1966, he released "Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You".

As a solo artist and leader of The Jimmy Castor Bunch (TJCB) in the 1970s, Castor released several successful albums and singles. TJCB hit their commercial peak in 1972 upon the release of their album It's Just Begun, which featured two hit singles: the title track and "Troglodyte (Cave Man)", the latter of which became quite popular in the US, hitting #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track stayed on the chart for 14 weeks and on June 30, 1972, received a gold disc award from the RIAA for sales of a million copies.

Many of the group's tunes have been heavily sampled in films and in hip-hop. In particular, the saxophone hook and groove from the title track of "It's Just Begun". For example Ice-T sampled the track for the title track of his 1988 album Power. Also, heavy sampled is the spoken word intro and groove from "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" (namely, "What we're gonna do right here is go back, way back, back into time..." and "Gotta find a woman, gotta find a woman"). Industrial hip hop group Tackhead covered the song "Just Begun" for the digital release of their album For the Love of Money.

Family Castor's son, J-Cast, chose his stage name by using letters from Jimmy "J" and Castor "Cast". J-Cast released an album, J-Cast for President, on June 24, 2009, which was popular in Japan. Jimmy had three other children: April, Jimmy Jr., and Sheli, and ten grandchildren.

Discography Albums

1967

– – – Smash

27 11 21

192 – – 1973

– 49 – 1974

– – –

74 34 –

– 30 – 1976

29 – 1977

– – – 1978

– – – Drive/TK Records

– – – Cotillion/Atlantic 1980

– – – Long Distance 1983

– – – Dream 1995

– – – Rhino

Chart singles Note: All credited to The Jimmy Castor Bunch''' unless otherwise stated. Year Single Chart positionsUS Pop USR&B AUS CAN 1966 "Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You"Jimmy Castor 31 16 – 36 1972 "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" 6 4 13 1 "Luther the Anthropoid (Ape Man)" 105 – – – 1973 "A Whiter Shade of Pale" – – – – 1975 "Soul Serenade" – 72 – – "The Bertha Butt Boogie (pt.1)" 16 22 – 30 "Potential" – 25 – – "King Kong – Part 1" 69 23 – – 1976 "Supersound" – 42 – – "Bom Bom" – 97 – – "Everything Is Beautiful to Me" – 67 – – 1977 "Space Age" 101 28 – – "I Love a Mellow Groove" 108 – – – 1978 "Maximum Stimulation" – 82 – – 1979 "Don't Do That!" – 50 – – 1980 "Can't Help Falling in Love with You"Jimmy Castor – 93 – – 1984 "Amazon"Jimmy Castor – 84 – – 1985 "It Gets to Me"Jimmy Castor – 81 – – 1988 "Love Makes a Woman"Joyce Sims feat. Jimmy Castor – 29 – – "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.