Jewel Akens

Vocation

Notable

American singer and record producer. Akens recorded with The Medallions, with The Four Dots, and then with singer Eddie Daniels as "Jewel and Eddie" in 1960. A number of his recordings featured Eddie Cochran on guitar. He later went solo and recorded "The Birds And The Bees" in 1965. The single went to Number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, and Number 2 on the Cash Box chart. It reached Number 29 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Akens toured regularly from 1965 and included a tribute to his mentor, Sam Cooke, in most of his shows. He also fronted a group billing itself as The Coasters, though it featured no actual original members of the group. Akens considered cover versions of Thurston Harris' "Little Bitty Pretty One" and Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On" to be his finest recordings. He toured with The Monkees and continued to record until the mid-1970s in a variety of styles. In 1973, he co-produced the critically acclaimed Super Taylors, a duet album of Southern soul by Ted Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor. On 1 March 2013, Akens died from complications of back surgery, aged 79. He is survived by his wife, Eddie Mae. Link to Wikipedia biography