Born Garrett Mimms on this day in 1933, Mimms grew up in Philadelphia, PA, and sang with gospel and doo-wop groups throughout his teens, recording his first record with the Norfolk Four at the age of 19. Soon after he joined the military and returned to Philadelphia to resume his professional music career singing with the Gainors in 1958.

Three years later, Mimms and another member of the Gainors started a group called the Enchanters and moved to New York City. There they met a man named Bert Berns (who wrote "Here Comes the Night," "Piece of My Heart," "Hang on Sloopy," and "Twist and Shout" before dying of heart failure at 38), who signed the Enchanters to the United Artists label. Berns and his partner Jerry Ragovoy wrote the song "Cry Baby" for the Enchanters, which had by then become Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters. The song was a huge hit in 1963, topping the R&B charts and going to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The group had a follow-up single with "For Your Precious Love" b/w "Baby Don't You Weep." Mimms went solo a year later. In 1966, Berns and Ragovoy wrote another hit for Mimms called "I'll Take Good Care Of You." Soon other artists began to take note of Mimms' output. He worked with Jimi Hendrix in the UK in 1967 and Led Zeppelin began performing a Mimms cut "As Long As I have You" during a U.S. tour. Janis Joplin had a radio hit with "Cry Baby" in 1971.

Mimms moved into funk in the 1970s and went a more non-secular route in the 1980s, working with prisoners through ministry. According to Soulwalking.com from the UK, Garnet Mimms is now a born-again Christian and has not recorded for many years.