King Pleasure
American singer (1922–1981)
King Pleasure (born Clarence Beeks; March 24, 1922 – March 21, 1981) was an American jazz vocalist and an early master of vocalese, a style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo.
Biography
Born Clarence Beeks, in Oakdale, Tennessee, he moved to New York City in the mid-1940s, working as a bartender, where he became a fan of bebop. King Pleasure first gained attention by singing the Eddie Jefferson vocalese classic "Moody's Mood for Love", based on a 1949 James Moody saxophone solo to "I'm in the Mood for Love". Pleasure's 1952 recording, his first after signing a contract with the Prestige label, is considered a jazz classic; the female vocalist featured is Blossom Dearie. He and Betty Carter also recorded a famous vocalese version of "Red Top", a jazz classic penned by Kansas Citian Ben Kynard and recorded by Gene Ammons and others. Other notable recordings include a presciently elegiac version of "Parker's Mood", the year before Charlie Parker died in 1955, and Pleasure's take on Ammons's "Hittin' the Jug", retitled as "Swan Blues" in 1962.
Pleasure has been cited as a significant influence by Van Morrison, especially on his album Astral Weeks. Genya Ravan, drawing inspiration for her singing from King Pleasure, recorded "Moody's Mood for Love" with James Moody on her 1972 CBS album Genya Ravan.
Pleasure died on March 21, 1981, aged 58.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “King Pleasure” is american singer (1922–1981). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through King, Pleasure and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “american singer (1922–1981)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1742068. VIAF identifies the subject as 44491049. The Library of Congress control number is n94099186. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 1981, 1949 and 1952.
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This entry incorporates text from “King Pleasure” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.