Jimmy Velvet

American Rock and Roll singer from Jacksonville, Florida Close friend of Elvis Presley, after Elvis' death, he ran an Elvis memorabilia museum in Memphis. Tennant became legally known as "Jimmy Velvet" in 1965, though he began using the name professionally as late as early 1963. He had earlier recorded under his real name, though there is one record from 1959 on the AMP label that is a different "Jimmie Tennant" ( Jimmie Tennant (2) on DB). Velvet would sometimes be confused with an artist with a similar name from Texas whom he used to promote, Jimmy Velvit, who's real name is James Mullins (3). The confusion became critical when Tennant made his first recordings that were to use Jimmy Velvet in April, 1963. He happened to release the same two songs that had been issued by Mullins on CUB Records a year earlier, "(You're Mine And) We Belong Together"/ "I'm Gonna Try (To Forget The One I Love)". Tennant intended the label and his last name to be as "Velvet", but Mullins' CUB record was used as an informational reference, and the name was spelled as "Velvit" instead in error. Only 1,000 copies were made, in both stock and promotional label formats, and most were (to be) destroyed. Tennant later had copies made on a corrected "VELVET" label in July, 1963, but his last name was still as "Velvit". Both sides eventually found a home on Cortland Records' WITCH subsidiary in August, but they were soon withdrawn once Jimmy made a deal with Felton Jarvis in Nashville and signed with ABC-Paramount Records in September, 1963. In November, ABC released "We Belong Together", but backed it with "The History Of Love", another song from the April session. Jimmy had a hand in writing "The History Of Love", while it was Mullins who had written "I'm Gonna Try". Down the road, Mullins would add more confusion to the mix by using "Velvet" as his last name on at least four records on three different labels, on BLUE Records, BELL Records, and BI Records. There was also an unrelated "James Velvet" who recorded for CUB Records, unrelated even to Mullins near the time that he was with the label.