Jesse Belvin

While not nearly as well remembered by the general public as either Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, singer Jesse Belvin was in many regards a performer of equal stature whose career was also cut far too short by tragedy. At the time of his death, Belvin was moving in the much the same direction as Cooke (he was even on the same record label, although signed earlier), and was scoring and writing hits long before Redding ever cut a record. Jesse Lorenzo Belvin was born in San Antonio, TX, in 1932. When he was five, his family relocated to Los Angeles, and by age seven he was singing...