MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) — Brenton Wood, the beloved soul singer and songwriter best known for his 1967 hit single “The Oogum Boogum Song,” has died. He was 83.
His manager and publicist Manny Gallegos said Wood died early Friday morning in his home in Moreno Valley, California, surrounded by friends and family.
It’s unclear how he died.
Wood, whose real name was Alfred Jesse Smith, was also behind the hits “Gimme Little Sign,” and “Baby You Got It.
Brenton Wood, the soul singer who sang 1967’s catchy “Oogum Boogum Song” and followed it with the Top 10 hit “Gimme Little Sign,” died Friday at his home in Moreno Valley, CA. He was 83.
Born Alfred Smith on July 26, 1941, in Shreveport, LA, Wood was raised in San Pedro just south of Los Angeles. He began singing and playing piano at an early age at signed with Brent Records and later Wand Records but didn’t produce a hit for either. He then switched to Double Shot Records in Hollywood, where he recorded “The Oogum Boogum Song.”
His managers Isabel and Manny Gallegos confirmed the news to multiple media outlets, saying Wood died peacefully in his sleep.
A borderline-novelty tune fueled by Wood’s sweet falsetto and piano hook, the track went Top 10 at L.A.’s leading Top 40 station KHJ-AM and dented the national Top 40 during the Summer of Love. He would perform it on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, but his signature song would be its follow-up.
“Gimme Little Sign” was a slow-building soul masterclass. Better known by its sung chorus lyric “just gimme some kind of sign, girl,” the midtempo track crashed the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1967 and peaked at No. 9 a few weeks later. It hit the UK singles chart 57 years ago this week, and reached No. 8 after Wood performed it on the popular TV music series Top of the Pops. It was among the few 1960s pop singles not to mention the actual title in its lyrics.
Watch the official lyric video for the song here and one for “The Oogum Boogum Song” below:
But “Gimme Little Sign” would mark Wood’s career zenith. He cracked the Billboard Top 40 early 1968 with “Baby You Got It” and dented the Hot 100 later that year with “Lovey Dovey Kinda Lovin’.” Wood’s sole charting album, 1967’s Oogum Boogum, peaked at No. 187 in 1967.
He went on to have a minor R&B hit with “Some Got It, Some Don’t” in 1968 and would release a number of singles into the late 1970s. “Come Softly to Me” was his only other charting song, reaching No. 97 on Billboard’s R&B tally in 1978.
Wood also appeared in the 1969 movie Popdown. Information on survivors or a memorial were incomplete.
Here’s the official lyric video for “The Oogum Boogum Song”:
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