Timi Yuro - Hurt

While I don't agree with the anonymous commenter's assessment of Janis Joplin in the earlier video, I appreciate his/her opinion - we appreciate anyone taking the time and care to comment, btw, whether we agree with you or not- and for his/her reminding me of the great, underappreciated Timi Yuro (born Rosemary Timotea Yuro).

Here's a clip of Yuro performing her classic Hurt, accompanied by a slide show of photos and album covers. There's also a video of an older Yuro performing Hurt available on YouTube, but I think I prefer hearing her at the height of her powers.

Hurt was originally recorded in 1961 when Yuro was only 21 years old, and charted to #4 in the U.S. In `62 she'd have another hit, What's A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?) which went to #12 on the Billboard charts, and was mixed by Phil Spector, although Yuro and Spector reportedly battled throughout the song's creation. Her obituary in the Guardian Unlimited noted that,

A subsequent single, The Love Of A Boy, was arranged and co-written by Burt Bacharach, but she refused to sing a follow-up, What The World Needs Now, in the way he wanted. The song became a hit for both Dionne Warwick and Jackie DeShannon.

In 1963, Yuro released Make the World Go Away, an album of country and blues standards, that includes the title song by Hank Cochran, and songs by Willie Nelson.

Yuro would leave the music business after her marriage in 1969. She'd stage a comeback in the `80s, but would be diagnosed with cancer and eventually succumb to the disease in 2004.