Billy Paul

Real name: Paul Williams
Birthday: 1 December 1934
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Biggest Hit Single: Me & Mrs Jones, number 12, 1973
Career Highlights: Grammy Award winner, Ebby Award winner, won the American Music Awards and holds the key to several American cities

Everyone knows Billy Paul for his 70s hit Me And Mrs Jones, but the talented R&B singer has been recording records since the 50s and started singing publicly aged 12.

Brought up on a diet of old jazz records, he had a fresh approach to R&B and was soon hanging round with the likes of Nina Simone and Miles Davis. How cool!

He was briefly in a three-piece band called Jubilee in the late 50s/early 60s, before quitting to concentrate on his own work. It would be 10 years later before Billy Paul really came his own, storming the US Billboard chart and several international charts with Me And Mrs Jones. The hit went platinum after selling more than two million copies, earning Billy the coveted Grammy Award. His album of the same name went gold, and entered the British charts at number five.

He announced his retirement in the late 80s, but is often tempted out for sell-out concerts in America and Europe.