Born William Edward John in Cullendale, Arkansas in 1937 and raised in Detroit, he signed to King Records in 1955 while still a teenager and became one of the most affecting ballad singers of the decade. “Need Your Love So Bad” was among his earliest sides for the label, cut with a New York band that included guitarist Mickey Baker. His life ended in prison in Walla Walla, Washington in 1968, the same year Fleetwood Mac’s version of his song reached the British charts. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ↗ in 1996.