Vernon Garrett

Born: Jan. 18, 1933 in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. When he was 15 he sang with local gospel groups like the Southern Wonders. Claude Jeter of the Swan Silvertones heard him when he opened for them and the Soul Stirrers. For a short time he was with the Swan Silvertones. He then went into the service aboard the USS Sarsfield EDD 837 in the Korean war. "After I got out of the service and joined a vocal group called The Mixers". Vernon soon starting performing as a solo artist and as a duo with his then wife jewel. "The f irst song we recorded was "You're Going To Be Paid for the Way You Treated Me" Vernon and Jewel released several singles for Kent throughout the 60s until Jewel died and Vernon returned as a solo artist. After Kent folded Vernon released various 45s for various labels like Modern ("I'm Guilty"), Open G ("I Had A Dream"), Venture ("Love Has Caught Me"), R & B ("Born To Love Me"), Soul Clock ("Just Ain't My Day"), Glow Hill ("Merry Christmas Baby)", APT as "Biggie Ratt" ("Escape", "We Don't Need No Music"), Kapp ("You Blew My Mind"), Grenade ("Going To My Baby's Place"), Watts ("I Learned My Lesson"), Gator ("Jody Can Ease The Pain" and others. His first LP, "Going To My Baby's Place", came out in 1975 but his first national chart hit was "I'm At The Crossroads" for ICU in 1977. In the 80s a mostly-live LP, "Crossroads" and two obscure albums for White Enterprises (1987's Somebody Done Messed Up At The Crossroad" and 1989's "If You Can't Help Me Baby" appeared before Garrett was signed to Ichiban Records for three terrific albums. The label folded and Garrett recorded a pair of albums for Leon Haywood's Evejim imprint at the beginning of the 20th decade.