Editing Joe Tex (section)

===Success===
Tex recorded and finally scored his first hit, "[[Hold What You've Got]]", in November 1964 at [[FAME Studios]] in [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama]].<ref name="joetexworld"/> He was unconvinced the song would be a hit and advised Killen not to release it.<ref name="joetexworld"/> However, Killen felt otherwise and released the song in early 1965. By the time Tex got wind of its release, the song had already sold 200,000 copies.<ref name="joetexworld2"/> The song eventually peaked at number five on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and became Tex's first number-one hit on the R&B charts, staying on the charts for 11 weeks and selling more than a million copies by 1966.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/>

Tex placed six top-40 charted singles on the R&B charts in 1965 alone, including two more number-one hits, "I Want To (Do Everything For You)" and "[[A Sweet Woman Like You]]".<ref name="joetexworld"/> He followed that with two successive albums, ''Hold On To What You've Got'' and ''The New Boss''. He placed more R&B hits than any artist, including his rival James Brown. In 1966, five more singles entered the top 40 on the R&B charts, including "The Love You Save" and "S.Y.S.L.J.F.M." or "The Letter Song", which was an answer song to [[Wilson Pickett]]'s "[[634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)]]".<ref name="joetexworld4">{{cite web |url=https://soultex.webs.com/1966ivegottodoal.htm |title=1966: I've got to do a little better|website=Soultex.webs.com |access-date=July 15, 2020}}</ref>

His 1967 hits included "[[Show Me (Joe Tex song)|Show Me]]", which became an often-covered tune for British rock artists and later some country and pop artists, and his second million-selling hit, "[[Skinny Legs and All (song)|Skinny Legs and All]]".<ref name="joetexworld5">{{cite web |url=https://soultex.webs.com/1967skinnylegsandal.htm |title=1967: Skinny legs and all |website=Soultex.webs.com |access-date=July 15, 2020 |archive-date=July 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717090953/https://soultex.webs.com/1967skinnylegsandal.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ct30.com/kgb/1967/671220.txt|title=KGB, San Diego, California – Survey for week of Wednesday December 20, 1967|website=Ct30.com|access-date=November 10, 2012}}</ref> The latter song, released off Tex's pseudo-live album, ''Live and Lively'', stayed on the charts for 15 weeks and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) in January 1968.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs 2"/> After leaving Atlantic for Mercury, Tex had several more R&B hits including "Buying a Book" in 1970 and "Give the Baby Anything the Baby Wants" in 1971. The intro saxophone riffs in his 1969 song, "You're Right, Ray Charles" later influenced [[Funkadelic]]'s "Standing on the Verge of Gettin' It On".<ref name="joetexworld8">{{cite web |url=https://soultex.webs.com/197071thesameolds.htm |title=1970/71: The same old soup |website=Soultex.webs.com|access-date=July 15, 2020}}</ref>

{{quote box|quote="Tex is a [[novelty song|novelty]] artist whose subject is [[morality]] ... all over some very punchy dance tracks by [[James Brown]] out of [[Stax-Volt]]."|source=— ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]'' (1981)<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: T|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=T&bk=70|access-date=March 16, 2019}}</ref>|width=23%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Tex recorded his next big hit, "I Gotcha", in December 1971. The song was released in January 1972 and stayed on the charts for 20 weeks, staying at number two on the Hot 100 for two weeks and sold more than 2 million copies, becoming his biggest-selling hit to date.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs 3"/> Tex was offered a gold disc of the song on March 22, 1972. The parent album reached number 17 on the pop albums chart.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs 3"/> The song would later be included in director [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s 1992 film debut ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]''. Following this and another album, Tex announced his retirement from show business in September 1972 to pursue life as a minister for [[Islam]].<ref name="joetexworld"/> Tex returned to his music career following the death of [[Elijah Muhammad]] in 1975, releasing the top-40 R&B hit, "Under Your Powerful Love". His last hit, "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)", was released in 1977 and peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100 and number 2 in the UK.<ref name="joetexworld"/>

His last public appearances were as part of a revised 1980s version of the Soul Clan in 1981. After that, Tex withdrew from public life, settling at his ranch in [[Navasota, Texas]], and watching football games by his favorite team, the [[Houston Oilers]].<ref name="joetexworld9">{{cite web |url=https://soultex.webs.com/197882howdoyouspe.htm |title=1978-82: How do you spell relief? |website=Soultex.webs.com |access-date=July 15, 2020 |archive-date=July 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716041759/https://soultex.webs.com/197882howdoyouspe.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>