{"id":68888,"date":"2026-07-20T15:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/jim-gilstrap-singer-for-stevie-wonder-good-times-theme-dead-at-79\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:35:27","slug":"jim-gilstrap-singer-for-stevie-wonder-good-times-theme-dead-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/jim-gilstrap-singer-for-stevie-wonder-good-times-theme-dead-at-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Gilstrap, Singer for Stevie Wonder, &#8216;Good Times&#8217; Theme, Dead at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tJim Gilstrap, the soul and R&amp;B vocalist known for his work with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/stevie-wonder\/\" id=\"auto-tag_stevie-wonder\" data-tag=\"stevie-wonder\">Stevie Wonder<\/a>, his solo hit \u201cSwing Your Daddy,\u201d and singing the <em>Good Times <\/em>theme song, has died. He was 79.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tGilstrap died on July 18 from natural causes, according to a statement from his family. \u201cBeyond the recordings and performances, Jim was admired by his peers for his professionalism, humility, generosity, and genuine love for music,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWhile many of his greatest contributions happened behind the scenes, his voice became an essential part of the soundtrack of generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAfter spending the Sixties singing in groups like the Doodletown Pipers and the Cultures, Gilstrap secured a spot in Wonder\u2019s backing band, Wonderlove. He appeared on three of Wonder\u2019s early Seventies records, including two classics, 1972\u2019s <em>Talking Book<\/em> and 1973\u2019s <em>Innervisions<\/em>. Gilstrap famously sang the opening lines of <em>Talking Book<\/em>\u2019s \u201cYou Are the Sunshine of My Life,\u201d which went to Number One on the <em>Billboard <\/em>Hot 100.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"You Are The Sunshine Of My Life\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SbenaOqv4yQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAround the same time, Gilstrap launched his own solo career. In 1975, he released \u201cSwing Your Daddy,\u201d a throwback R&amp;B gem that became a Top Five pop hit in the U.K. and cracked the Top 10 of the R&amp;B charts in the U.S. The song anchored Gilstrap\u2019s debut album of the same name, which featured two more well-received singles, \u201cHome of Strangers\u201d and \u201cPut Out the Fire.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWhile Gilstrap released another solo album, 1976\u2019s <em>Love Talk<\/em>, his career largely settled around session work. During the Seventies and Eighties, he sang backup for some of the biggest artists in the world, including Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, George Benson, Patrice Rushen, Patti LaBelle, and Whitney Houston. Gilstrap worked frequently with Quincy Jones, too, appearing on his many solo albums as well as Michael Jackson\u2019s Jones-produced classic, <em>Off the Wall<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tDemand for Gilstrap never wavered. During the Nineties, he popped up on blockbuster albums by C\u00e9line Dion, Michael Bolton, Luther Vandross, Ricky Martin, and Kenny G. And more recently, he sang on Kanye West\u2019s <em>808s and Heartbreak<\/em> and Harry Styles\u2019 2017 self-titled debut, including the hit single, \u201cSign of the Times.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Swing Your Daddy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CoxhuDcyjQw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tGilstrap also worked extensively in film and television. In 1974, he and Motown vocalist Blinky Williams cut the enduring theme song for the classic sitcom, <em>Good Times<\/em>. And he was part of the chorus for the soundtrack to hit 1978 movie musical <em>Grease<\/em>. Gilstrap sang on several Disney albums, contributed vocals to the soundtrack for the animated film <em>Anastasia<\/em>, and popped up as a singer on several episodes of <em>The Simpsons<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/jim-gilstrap-singer-stevie-wonder-good-times-theme-dead-1235595862\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jim Gilstrap, the soul and R&amp;B vocalist known for his work with Stevie Wonder, his solo hit \u201cSwing Your Daddy,\u201d and singing the Good&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":68889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}