Harry Young Jr

Harry Young Jr, also known as Doc Soul Stirrer (born May 8, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland; died January 4, 2008 in Bessemer) was an entertainer and newspaper columnist.

Young was the second of two children born to Mr & Mrs Harry Young of the Douglass/Somerset projects of East Baltimore. He grew up in that city's Faith Baptist Church and graduated from Dunbar High School. He began his entertainment career as a singer, dancer and comedian immediately after high school, notably with the House Rockers, the Imperials, and the Soul Brothers. It was early in his career when Young pioneered his gimmicks of jumping up on the bar to dance or leading the party out onto the street.

During the early 1960s Young moved to California to further his career. While there, he met W. T. Ward, owner of Birmingham's Aqua Lounge. Ward brought him to Birmingham to headline his club, but he also toured the region. In 1979 he was struck by a car during a visit to Atlanta to perform at the Silver Fox and paralyzed from the waist down.

Young continued to perform for his fans and began contributing a weekly entertainment column, "Showtime", to the Birmingham Times. The Times presented him with an achievement award in 2005. After a long illness he died of a heart attack at the Medical West Hospital in Bessemer in January 2008. He is interred in his home city of Baltimore. He was survived by a sister and five children: Kirk, Dna, Michael, Omar and Tara. Omar is better known in Baltimore as rapper and producer "Labtekwon".

References

• "Birmingham Times' own, "Doc Soul Stirrer" dies." (January 10, 2008) Birmingham Times