Jim Post was half of the duo Friend & Lover, known for their 1968 hit, “Reach out of the Darkness.”
- Died: September 14, 2022 (Who else died on September 14?)
- Details of death: Died in Dubuque, Iowa of congestive heart failure at the age of 82.
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Musical career
Post was playing with the folk group the Rum Runners when he met Janet Smith, who became both his wife and his musical partner. The two formed Friend & Lover in the mid-1960s and began performing their folk music around Chicago and elsewhere. Their recordings were more pop-tinged, including their Top-Ten hit “Reach out of the Darkness,” better known by its repeated hook, “I think it’s so groovy now that people are finally getting’ together.” Now a staple song of that time period, it has been featured in movies and TV shows including “Mad Men” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Friend & Lover followed the success of “Reach out of the Darkness” with the minor single “If Love Is in Your Heart.” Post continued a solo career after the end of his marriage and the breakup of Friend & Lover. Later in life, Post created and toured with the one-man musical show, “Mark Twain and the Laughing River.”
Notable quote
“I learned to sing by bein’ a Southern Baptist. My mother was a singer — just around the house but with a voice just as big as Mahalia Jackson’s. She’d sing doin’ the housework, with tears in her eyes, listenin’ to some fool preacher on the radio. And me milkin’ cows ’bout 100 yards down the line, singin’ harmony.” —from an interview for the Chicago Sun-Times
Tributes to Jim Post
Full obituary: Chicago Sun-Times
