Jewel Akens

Male R&B singer & producer. (Born: 9/12/1933 (Houston, TX), died: 3/1/2013 (Inglewood, CA)) He will be best remembered for his 1965 hit "The Birds And The Bees." After moving with his family to Los Angeles at the age of nine, he began performing as a vocalist at his local church. At the age of eighteen, he joined his first ensemble The The Four Dots whom recorded a number of singles in 1959. They will probably be best known for featuring Eddie Cochran's guitar work on some of their tracks. After they disbanded, Akens landed a contract with the Era label and recorded the singles "Boom A Lay" (1964) and "Hide and Seek" (1964) as lead vocalist with a group called the Turnarounds (see also The Astro-Jets - Boom-A-Lay / Hide And Seek). His recording of "The Birds And The Bees" marked the high point of his career as it reached number three on the US Pop-Charts in 1965. This was followed by an association with The Monkees as an opening act during their tours. During the 1970s, Akens turned to producing and yielded the Little Johnny Taylor and Ted Taylor album "The Super Taylors" (1973). Akens also remained an active performer. He died of complications from back surgery.