There has been a nice post going on over at AVFL honoring the great Jim Hamill, along with news that Jim’s health is not good. If you read down the comments to #56, Mickey Gamble at Crossroads has offered to look into producing a compilation project of some of Jim’s best work and donate the proceeds to Jim and his family. What an example of how Christian business should be run. Everything is done properly, and the intended beneficiary is indeed the recipient.
Jim Hamill is truly one of the industry’s greats. Most of the attention has been on his years with the Kingsmen, and rightfully so, but let’s not forget that Jim also did some great work with the Oak Ridge Quartet and the Rebels as well. His solo feature on “One Of These Mornings” from the ORQ “I Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now” is superb. Somewhat lost in the KM “fun-n-gun” style is the fact that Jim Hamill is an excellent singer. In his prime, he had the edge and the range that most lead singers only dream about possessing. It is truly touching to see this tribute being paid to a legend while he is still around to see it. I have always been and will always be a fan of Jim Hamill.
The last time I saw Jim, I told him that I always thought he did his best singing with the Blue Ridge, Oak Ridge and Rebels. He laughed, and then smacked me with his cane!
I love Big Jim!
I agree with you about Jim’s superb singing on “One of These Mornings.” Jim’s charisma sometimes overshadowed his great lead singing voice, but he could forevermore sing. I have been listening again to “Live Naturally,” and Jim is singing some very high harmony parts at the end of some of the songs. He had to be hitting A and A flat. Jim also does some superb singing on “I Know That I’ve Been Born Again” when he was with the Rebels.
[...] I really can’t think of anything more appropriate to say than what I said in this earlier post. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in this difficult time. [...]