Editing Joe Tex (section)

===Early recordings===
Tex recorded for King Records between 1955 and 1957 with little success. He later claimed he sold musical rights to the composition "[[Fever (Little Willie John song)|Fever]]" to King Records staff to get money to pay his [[Renting|rent]]. The song's credited songwriters, [[Otis Blackwell]] (who used the pseudonym John Davenport) and Joe Cooley, disputed Tex's claims.<ref name="joetexworld"/> Labelmate [[Little Willie John]] had a hit with "Fever", which inspired Tex to write the first of his [[answer song]]s, "Pneumonia".<ref name="joetexworld"/>

In 1958, he signed with [[Ace Records (United States)|Ace]] and continued to have relative failures, but he was starting to build a unique stage reputation, opening for artists such as [[Jackie Wilson]], [[James Brown]], and [[Little Richard]]. He perfected the microphone tricks and dance moves that defined the rest of his career. Many, including Little Richard, claim that Tex's future nemesis James Brown stole Tex's dance moves and microphone tricks.<ref name="joetexworld"/> In 1960, he left Ace and briefly recorded for Detroit's [[Anna Records]] label, scoring a Bubbling Under ''Billboard'' hit with his [[cover version]] of [[Etta James]]' "[[All I Could Do Was Cry]]". By then, Tex's use of rapping over his music was starting to become commonplace.<ref name="joetexworld"/>

In 1961, he recorded his composition "[[Baby You're Right]]" for Anna. Later that year, James Brown recorded a cover version, though with different lyrics and a different musical composition, gaining songwriting credit, making it a hit in 1962, and reaching number two on the R&B chart. During this time, Tex first began working with [[Buddy Killen]], who formed the [[Dial Records (1964)|Dial Records]] label behind Tex. After a number of songs failed to chart, Killen decided to have [[Atlantic Records]] distribute his recordings with Dial in 1964. By the time he signed with Atlantic, Tex had recorded 30 songs, all of which had failed to make an impact on the charts.<ref name="joetexworld2">{{cite web |url=https://soultex.webs.com/builduptobreakthrough.htm |title=Build up to breakthrough - The World of Joe Tex |access-date=July 15, 2020 |archive-date=July 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719115638/https://soultex.webs.com/builduptobreakthrough.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>