 arthur lee conley (january 4, 1946 â november 17, 2003) was a u.s. soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit "sweet soul music". ==early life == conley was born in mcintosh county, georgia, u.s., and grew up in atlanta. he first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of arthur & the corvets. with this group, he released three singles in 1963 and 1964â"poor girl", "i believe", and "flossie mae"âon the atlanta based record label, national recording company. ==biography and career== in 1964, he moved to a new label (baltimore's 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. conley met redding in 1967. together they rewrote the sam cooke song "yeah man" into "sweet soul music", which, at redding's insistence, was released on the atco-distributed label fame records, and was recorded at fame studios in muscle shoals, alabama. it proved to be a massive hit, going to the number two position on the u.s. charts and the top ten across much of europe. "sweet soul music" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. after several years of hits singles in the early 1970s, he relocated to england in 1975, and spent several years in belgium, settling in amsterdam (netherlands) in spring 1977. at the beginning of 1980 he had some major performances as lee roberts and the sweaters in the ganzenhoef, paradiso, de melkweg and the concertgebouw, and was highly successful. at the end of 1980 he moved to the dutch village of ruurlo legal
1946_births 2003_deaths African-American_singers American_expatriates_in_Belgium American_expatriates_in_the_Netherlands American_expatriates_in_the_United_Kingdom American_male_singers American_soul_musicians Atco_Records_artists Atlantic_Records_artists Cancer_deaths_in_the_Netherlands Deaths_from_colorectal_cancer LGBT_musicians_from_the_United_States LGBT_people_from_Georgia_(U.S._state) LGBT_singers Musicians_from_Atlanta,_Georgia