#1419: Jay Black

80s Snapshot:

• Number of songs on Hot 100: 1
• Highest peak position: 98
• Cumulative weeks on Hot 100: 4

A trend we will certainly see much more of across this journey throughout the 80s is the decade being welcome to many of the voices of yesteryear hanging on for one last hurrah.

David Blatt (not the NBA coach of the same name) adopted the name Jay Black when he was brought on to replace Jay Traynor as the second “Jay” in the 60s vocal group Jay and the Americans in 1962. The group was in danger of becoming a one-hit wonder at the time of Traynor’s depature: the group had hit #5 on the Hot 100 with “She Cried”, but the two follow-up singles failed to reach the Hot 100.

But with Black’s distinctive voice and impressive vocal range, the group’s chart fortunes were revived throughout the remainder of the 60s. Jay and the Americans logged a further 9 Top 40 hits with Black at the helm, reaching the Top 10 with “Come A Little Bit Closer” (#3 in 1964), “Cara Mia” (#4 in 1965) and their Drifters cover “This Magic Moment” (#6 in 1969).

The group dissolved in 1973, and while Black continued to perform with various other musicians as “Jay and the Americans”, he also released a handful of solo singles throughout the 70s, none of which gained any traction commercially. When the decade switched from the 70s to the 80s, he adopted the soft rock/country-pop style that was beginning to experience a surge in popularity and finally earned himself a solo placement inside the Hot 100.

“The Part Of Me That Needs You Most” was initially recorded in 1979 by Exile, the country-pop group who hit #1 in 1978 with “Kiss You All Over”. Jay Black’s cover of the track is a perfect representation of where the genre was headed, a midtempo ballad that sounds like the songs Ronnie Milsap would take to greater chart success in the following years. Black’s version of “The Part Of Me That Needs You Most” debuted at #98 on the 9/20/1980 Hot 100, spent three weeks at that peak position, and spent one final week at #100 before bowing off the chart.

Black would never again release a single in the United States (he had one release in Canada and another in France) but continued performing as “Jay Black and the Americans” until losing the rights to the group’s name in contentious 2006 bankruptcy proceedings. He retained the rights to the “Jay Black” stage name, and performed under that name or as “Jay Black The Voice” until his retirement from public appearances in 2017. He passed away in 2021.

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