Baby Huey Ramey (Baby Huey and Babysitters)

James “Baby Huey” Ramey (b. January 1, Richmond, 1944 – d. Chicago, October 28, 1970) – Singer. Born with a glandular condition that caused his weight to top out at over 400 pounds, Richmond native Baby Huey was a high-energy front man of the band Baby Huey and the Babysitters (1963-1970), a Chicago-based group that played funked-up arrangements of soul, Motown, and R & B songs. In the later years, the band was compared to Sly and the Family Stone. Baby Huey was also known for his impromptu freestyle verses in a pre-rap style. Two other founding members of the Babysitters were also from Richmond: Huey’s old friends Melvin “Deacon” Jones (organist and trumpeter) and guitarist Johnny Ross. After establishing themselves as a very popular live act at The Thumbs Up (a Chicago nightclub on Broadway just North of Diversey), the Babysitters toured nationally (plus spent three months in Paris) and secured a huge underground following before cutting an album. With little original material to work with, the group finally took time off to record in 1970; the result was The Baby Huey Story: A Living Legend produced by Curtis Mayfield with Chicago-based Custom Records. Not released until after Baby Huey’s fatal heart attack on October 28, 1970, The Baby Huey Story is considered a classic, and many hip-hop artists have remixed songs from it. Known for launching into long sections of extemporized speech, Ramey is considered to be a forerunner to rap.