On this date the African-American soul singer ARTHUR CONLEY was born (d. 2003). Best known for the 1967 hit, “Sweet Soul Music,” Conley was born Arthur Lee Conley in McIntosh, Georgia and started his music career as the lead singer of Arthur and the Corvets in 1959.

With this group, he released three singles in 1963 and 1964 (“Poor Girl”, “I Believe”, and “Flossie Mae”) on the Atlanta based record label, National Recording Company. In 1964, he moved to Ru-Jac Records and released “I’m a Lonely Stranger”.

When Otis Redding heard this, he asked Conley to record a new version, which was released on Redding’s own fledgling label Jotis Records, as only its second release. In the 1970’s he moved to Ruurlo in the Netherlands and changed his name to Lee Roberts.

His albums include: Sweet Soul Music, Shake Rattle & Roll, Soul Directions, More Sweet Soul, Soulin (1988, as Lee Roberts and the Sweaters), and Sweet Soul Music: The Best Of Arthur Conley (1995).