Jim Gilstrap, Voice Behind "Good Times" Theme Song, Dies at 79
Most people who grew up watching Good Times or heard You Are the Sunshine of My Life know Jim Gilstrap's voice without knowing his name. That's the life of a session singer. Your sound is everywhere. Your face is nowhere.
Gilstrap died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 79. He passed from natural causes.
His nephew Geoffrey Gilstrap confirmed the news. "To the world, Jim Gilstrap was a legendary voice," he said. "To us, he was simply Uncle James — a beloved husband, uncle, mentor and friend."
A Texas Kid Who Came Home From War and Found His Voice
Gilstrap was born in Daingerfield, Texas in November 1946. He served in the Vietnam War with the U.S. Navy Reserve and came home to build a music career from the ground up. He started with groups like The Doodletown Pipers and The Cultures — not exactly household names, but they were the kind of working musician gigs that sharpen you.
Then he landed the job that changed everything. Stevie Wonder needed a backing vocalist.
Gilstrap joined Wonder's supporting group Wonderlove and contributed to two of the most celebrated albums of Wonder's career — Talking Book and Innervisions. Good records to have your name on.
The Opening Lines of a Number One Song
In 1972 Gilstrap sang the opening lines of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." That song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It won Wonder a Grammy for best male pop vocal performance. And the very first voice you hear on it — before Wonder even opens his mouth — is Jim Gilstrap.
That's a legacy most singers would retire on. Gilstrap kept going.
Two years later he got the call to sing the opening theme for Good Times — the Norman Lear family sitcom starring John Amos and Esther Rolle that became the first African American two-parent sitcom on television. He sang it alongside Motown singer Blinky Williams. The gospel-influenced theme was written by Dave Grusin and Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
His nephew described what it was like growing up with that as your uncle's resume.
"As kids, all of us nieces and nephews proudly bragged to classmates that our Uncle Jim was the voice behind the 'temporary layoffs' line from Good Times. Then we'd remind them that he also sang on 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life.'"
His Own Shot at the Charts
In 1975 Gilstrap released his debut album Swing Your Daddy on Chelsea Records. The title track broke the top 10 on the US R&B charts and reached the top 5 in the UK. Not bad for a guy who spent most of his career making other people sound great. His follow-up album Love Talk in 1976 didn't match that momentum, but the session work never dried up.
Over the following decades he contributed to records by Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Elton John, José Feliciano, and Harry Styles. The list alone tells you what his reputation was in the studio — when those names needed someone, they called him.
What Stevie Wonder Said
Wonder spoke about Gilstrap in an interview the day after his death. He remembered the warmth in his voice specifically — smooth, gentle, unmistakably his own.
"He will always be a part of this song in my career that I wrote, and the song was obviously very special to me," Wonder said. "He and Lani Groves started that song off. And so, that will forever be a part of that 'Sunshine of My Life' that I won't ever forget."
The Man Beyond the Music
Geoffrey Gilstrap's tribute went beyond the professional credits.
"Beyond the music, we'll remember Jim's kindness, humility, humor, generosity and, of course, his homemade sweet potato pies that brought our family together," he said. "As we celebrate Uncle Jim's remarkable life, we can't help but thank God for those 'Good Times' and how lucky we were to have him."
He was 79. His voice opened one of the most beloved songs of the 1970s and one of the most beloved TV shows of the same decade.
Not a bad pair of things to leave behind.
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