Billy Paul, who sang 'Me and Mrs. Jones,' is dead at 80

(Image credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)

published 25 April 2016

Soul and jazz singer Billy Paul scored an international hit in 1972 with a love song about infidelity, "Me and Mrs. Jones," and a year later he beat Ray Charles and Curtis Mayfield for a best male R&B Grammy. He never again reached that level of success, but Paul performed until he became ill with pancreatic cancer, his co-manager Beverly Gay tells The Associated Press. Paul died at home in Blackwood, New Jersey, on Sunday. He was 80.

"Me and Mrs. Jones" was written by Philadelphia songwriters and producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, and they said late Sunday that Paul was "one of the great artists to come out of Philly and to be celebrated worldwide." Gamble and Huff also released music by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O'Jays, and Lou Rawls, but "the salacious smash 'Me and Mrs. Jones'" was "one of the greatest love songs ever recorded," they added.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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