Jimmie Spheeris

by Jason AnkenyThe poetic singer/songwriter Jimmie Spheeris was born November 5, 1949. His debut LP, Isle of View, was issued on Columbia in 1971 and made him the subject of a rabid cult following, a fan base boosted with the 1973 release of The Original Tap-Dancing Kid. In tandem with producer Henry Lewy, Spheeris resurfaced in 1975 with The Dragon Is Dancing, but after The Ports of the Heart appeared a year later, he found himself without a recording contract, and excepting a 1980 single, "Hold Tight," he released no new music for close to a decade. Finally, in 1984, Spheeris returned to the studio to begin work on his comeback LP; tragically, he was killed by a drunk driver on the morning of July 4, 1984, just hours after the record's completion. The album, simply titled Spheeris, was privately issued later that same year.