From basketball to the blues: Singleton’s making his mark in a second calling
By Randy Bell
Many Clintonians remember watching Jarekus Singleton scorch the nets as a basketball player. Now, he pounds out the blues with the same power he used in attacking the hoop. And he’s one of three Clinton natives honored with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker.
After averaging 21 points a game at Clinton High School, Singleton signed with Southern Miss before transferring to William Carey, where he was the NAIA Player of the Year in 2007. But the NBA passed him over, and he wound up playing professionally in Lebanon.
Then, an ankle injury changed everything. His basketball career was over.
“And I think it was divine intervention, maybe,” Singleton said, as he sat under a tent moments before the marker was dedicated last October. “Without that injury, I probably would not have taken this route. I never thought about having a band and things like that. But I thank God for growing in the church and being a musician with all my other family members, [so] I had something else to go to.”
At 38, Singleton is considered a rising star among America’s bluesmen. But he credits one of his fellow Blues Trail marker honorees for helping to guide his career.
“I learned a lot from Eddie Cotton,” said Singleton. “He’s been a great mentor to me. I’m thankful for the relationship of his family and mine. It’s just been a blessing to even know him and learn from him. There has not been one time where I called him and he ignored my call. There’s been plenty of times where I just popped up over to his house and [he] would sit down and answer all of the questions I’m asking.”
“He’s helped me so much along the way,” Singleton continued. “I owe him a lot.”
And Singleton is hoping others will follow in his footsteps in embracing the blues.
“Hopefully, this will inspire the younger ones to get out there and learn music and do more things constructively. Because we need something to take away from the violence and hardships. And the music helped me.”
And as the former basketball star continues to make a name for himself as a blues musician, he appreciates the recognition he’s getting.
“You know, I’m really honored and humbled. [It’s] just a great thing to be honored by your hometown.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a three-part series featuring Clinton’s Blues Trail honorees, which include Singleton, Eddie Cotton Jr. and Sterling Plumpp.
The Mississippi Blues Trail is an ongoing project of the Mississippi Blues Commission, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The sites, which number more than two hundred, run the gamut from city streets to cotton fields, train depots to cemeteries, and clubs to churches.
