O.B. McClinton

Who was O.B. McClinton?

Obie Burnett McClinton was a Black country music singer and songwriter. The second-youngest child born to Rev. G. A. McClinton, a clergyman and farmer who owned his own 700-acre ranch in Mississippi, not far from Memphis, Tennessee. Listening to Hank Williams as a child around the age of 9 or 10 sparked his interest in performing country music.

Before beginning his country music career, he tried to break into R&B. Although he was unable to secure a recording contract as a soul singer himself, he did pen several songs recorded by James Carr, including the title songs to Carr's albums You Got My Mind Messed Up and A Man Needs a Woman.

Known to refer to himself as the "Chocolate Cowboy", McClinton successfully marketed his album called The Only One on television long before the practice was commonplace. Featuring his first country chart single "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You", a top 40 song in 1972, he considered it to be his finest work.

He died on September 23, 1987 after a year-long battle with abdominal cancer.