Grammy award-winning R&B and soul singer Joe Simon dies aged 85

Joe Simon has died (Picture: Getty)

Grammy award-winning R&B singer Joe Simon has died aged 85, according to reports.

The artist, who sang the 1972 hit Power of Love and was sampled by hip hop group OutKast, died on Monday in his hometown near Chicago, US music magazine Billboard said.

Simon was known also for US R&B chart-topper The Chokin Kind in 1969 and 1971’s Drowning in the Sea of Love.

His 1975 track Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor) Simon’s highest entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number eight.

Over his career, Simon charted 51 pop and R&B chart hits between 1964 and 1981, including eight times in the US top 40, 38 times in the top 40 of the US R&B charts, and 13 chart hits in Canada.

In 2021 he was nominated as an inductee in the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.

A sample of Simon’s song Before the Night Is Over appears on Outkast’s 2001 hit So Fresh, So Çlean.

Simon was born in Simmesport, Louisiana, in 1943.

More to follow.

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