US R&B vocalist and composer (b. August 12, 1920, Minden, Louisiana, d. August 11, 1984, Los Angeles, CA) Though maybe mostly known for penning the classic "Hit the road, Jack", Mayfield himself was a major performer for the Specialty label in the first half of the 50's delivering slow blues ballads with his smokey voice reminding of Charles Brown. His biggest hit was the 1950 "Please Send Me Someone to Love", an R&B standard covered by many singers since then. The good looking Mayfield was nearly killed in a 1952 car accident, that left his face severely scarred and may have had an limiting effect on his career as a performer. In 1961 Ray Charles made his "Hit The Road, Jack" a major hit, and Mayfield was subsequently hired by Charles's Tangerine Records as a songwriter. After a decade in the background, Mayfield had a come back and released several albums late 60's to early 70's on Tangerine and RCA. On these albums Mayfields smokey bariton voice is often heard accompained by top jazz session-players of the era.
