TIMI YURO - HURT

HURT

TIMI YURO

SONGWRITER: AL JACOBS & JIMMIE CRANE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: HURT!!!!!!!

LABEL: LIBERTY RECORDS

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1961

 

          Rosemary Timothy Yuro (August 4, 1940 – March 30, 2004), known professionally as Timi Yuro, was an American singer-songwriter. Sometimes called "the little girl with the big voice," she is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era. According to one critic, "her deep, strident, almost masculine voice, staggered delivery and the occasional sob created a compelling musical presence." Yuro possessed a contralto vocal range.

        Rosemary Yuro was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1940, into an Italian-American family whose original name may have been Aurro. By the time of her birth, however, the family used the spelling Yuro. In 1952, young Rosemary moved with her family to Los Angeles, where she sang in her parents' Italian restaurant and, despite their opposition, in local nightclubs before catching the eye and ear of talent scout Sonny Knight. Signed to Liberty Records in 1959, she had a U.S. Billboard Nº. 4 single in 1961 with "Hurt", an R&B ballad that had been an early success for Roy Hamilton. Yuro's recording was produced by Clyde Otis, who had previously worked with Brook Benton and Dinah Washington.                 Later that year she recorded as a duo with Johnnie Ray. She charted some further minor hits including "Smile" (No. 42), opened for Frank Sinatra on his 1962 tour of Australia, and received a 1962 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of 1961 (losing to Peter Nero).

          In 1962, Bob Johnston and Otis produced Yuro's single "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?)", which went to Nº. 12 on the Billboard pop chart. On both "Hurt" and "What's a Matter Baby", Yuro showed an emotional but elegant vocal style that owed a debt to Washington and other black jazz singers. Many listeners in the early 1960s thought Yuro was black. Her single "The Love of a Boy" reached No. 44 in 1962. It was arranged and co-written by Burt Bacharach, but Yuro refused to record his suggested follow-up, "What the World Needs Now Is Love".

          In the following year, Liberty released Make the World Go Away, an album of country and blues standards. The singer at her vocal peak, this recording includes the hit title song (later a bigger hit for Eddy Arnold, with whom the song is usually associated), a version of Willie Nelson's "Permanently Lonely", and two different blues takes of "I'm Movin' On". Yuro was also known for soulful reworkings of popular American standards, such as "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", "Smile", and "I Apologize". She toured Europe in 1963, and appeared on the British TV show Ready Steady Go! However, in the U.S. her image became established as a cabaret performer, rather than as a soul singer.

I'm so hurt to think that you lied to me

I'm hurt way down deep inside of me

You said our love was true

And we'll never, never part

Now you've got someone new

And it breaks my heart

 

I'm hurt, much more than you'll ever know

Yes darling, I'm so hurt

Because I still love you so

Even though you hurt me

Like nobody else could ever do

I would never hurt, hurt you.