One of the weirdest, wildest performers ever to grace an eardrum is one of the least known, despite penning one of the most iconic songs ever written. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a man with a crazed look in his eye and tusks on his nose.
And it is he who wrote ‘I Put A Spell On You’, and there’s a good chance the many of you have never heard the original (those that have, shut your stupid know-it-all faces and go and sulk in a record shop somewhere).
Of course, the most famous version of the track is the eyewateringly good Nina Simone take. There’s been many, many covers, but none of them have the strange hoodoo energy of the original.