b. James Earl Gilstrap, 10th November 1946, Pittsburg, Texas, U.S.A.
Jim Gilstrap hails from Texas in the U.S. and first came to prominence in the U.K. with his top ten pop hit 'Swing Your Daddy' in 1974, penned by U.K. songwriter Kenny Nolan.
The single was released on the Chelsea label and was followed by an album of the same name later the following year.
A further album followed two years later, however, the first single became a hard act to follow and Jim moved into recording with other artists.
This career move led to Jim becoming on of the most sought after background vocalists around, recording with everybody from Stevie Wonder to England Dan and John Ford Coley.
Jim was one of the featured background vocalists on the John Travolta / Olivia Newton John movie soundtrack to the film 'Grease', in 1978.
Throughout the nineties he has worked alongside many 'smooth jazz' artists including Ramsey Lewis and Dave Koz.
In 1995, Jim sang 'Condor! (Theme) / I've Got You Where I Want You' for the soundtrack to the Robert Redford movie 'Three Days Of The Condor'.
Both of his albums were released on Sequel Records as a twin packaged release in 1995.
Northern soul fans will hold Jim in high regard for his tune 'Run, Run, Run' on Bell Records with the group Side Effect.
The Side Effect album, entitled 'Effective', was released in 2001 by Soul Brother Records in London.
Albums:
Swing Your Daddy (Chelsea Records 1975)
Love Talk (Roxbury Records 1977)
