Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Inez and Charlie Foxx were a sister and brother team from Greensboro, North Carolina who recorded a number of songs, one of which reached the pop top ten in the 60's. They are thus rememberd as one-shot artists.
Charlie was born in 1939 and his sister Inez in 1942 in Greensboro. They became involved in the local music scene in Greensboro, with Inez singing lead and Charlie on back-up vocals and playing guitar. Inez was a singer with the Gospel Tide Chorus for a time.
The two composed their own song, based on the well-known lullaby Hush Little Baby. With Inez and Charlie alternating the lyrics, Mockingbird was released by Sue Records (Symbol Records). It became a smash hit on the R&B chart and rose to the top ten on the pop chart in late 1963. Inez and Charlie developed an entertaining stage act, and toured Europe and were credited with helping to popularize the Northern Soul movement in popular music. The duet had other minor hits with Ask Me, Hurt by Love, La De Dah I Love You and (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count the Days.
Mockingbird was the signature song for Inez and Charlie Foxx, and it was to be their only top forty pop song. Others made recordings of it, including Dusty Springfield who sang both parts of it on her 1964 recording. James Taylor enjoyed singing it with his sister, Kate Taylor, as a teenager. He later recorded a version of Mockingbird with with his wife, Carly Simon, and that version brought Mockingbird back to the pop top ten in 1974. Later Tobey Keith recorded a version of the song with his 17-year-old daughter Krystal, and that was a country-western hit in 2004. Others who recorded Mockingbird included Aretha Franklin, Eddie Money (accompanied by his daughter Jesse), and the Belle Stars.
Inez was married for a time to record producer/songwriter Luther Dixon, who wrote many well known pop songs, including some of the hits recorded by the Shirelles. In 1967 Dixon produced the album Come By Here that was recorded by Inez and her brother. Inez did some solo recording later in the 60's and 70's but met with little success outside of her album on Volt At Memphis, in 1969. Charlie Foxx later worked as a record producer. He suffered from leukemia and died in 1998, at age 58.
Charlie and Inez Foxx made a number of contributions to R&B and pop music over the years, and they are most closely identified with the 1963 hit that they wrote and recorded, Mockingbird.
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