Handy Man

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"Handy Man" is a rock 'n' roll song credited to singer Jimmy Jones and songwriter Otis Blackwell. It was originally recorded by The Sparks Of Rhythm, a group Jones had been a member of when he wrote "Handy Man" although he was not with them when they recorded it. In 1959, Jimmy Jones recorded the song which was reworked by Blackwell [1]. Blackwell produced the session and "Handy Man" became a million seller. The song was a hit again in 1964 recorded by Del Shannon and James Taylor in 1977. Taylor's version of the song was the most successful, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning Taylor his second Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

Some recordings of "Handy Man" list C. Merenstein as a co-writer as does BMI under the full name Charles Merenstein. Merenstein has other songs with BMI.

[edit] Trivia

• Boy George was later accused of plagiarizing his 1983 hit "Karma Chameleon" from "Handy Man". [2]

• In an episode of What's Happening!!, Dwayne sings a horrible rendition of "Handy Man" in class to impress a talent scout, but winds up disgusting everyone instead.