Rock ’n’ roll wild man Screamin’ Jay Hawkins created a musical legacy in the ‘90s with producer/ Bizarre Records partner Robert Duffy.

Duffey says of his fruitful creative relationship with Hawkins, “He was unique. He opened me up to a different kind of creativity. Jay wasn’t trying to make hit records. Jay was just trying to be Jay. He was trying to show the world Jay. He wasn’t a pretentious rock star.”

By the time Hawkins and Duffey met in 1990, the uninhibited singer had already left a deep impression on rock ’n’ roll. During the early ’50s, he had recorded for such R&B labels as Timely, Mercury, Wing, and Grand; for the latter imprint, he wrote and recorded a smooth ballad, “I Put a Spell On You,” which the company declined to release.

But the song became the touchstone of an astonishing career after it was rerecorded at a (purportedly) drunken session by Okeh Records A&R exec Arnold Maxin. The literally screamin’ single never became a chart hit, but it endured as an underground classic, inspiring diverse covers by Nina Simone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and many others.

The debut album Black Music for White People — the title of which won approval after its endorsement by Hawkins’ label mate, street musician Larry “Wild Man” Fischer — was an eclectic selection that included an off-the-chain “dance version” of “I Put a Spell On You,” an over-the-top restyling of Kern and Hammerstein’s “Ol’ Man River,” and two suitably gritty numbers, “Heart Attack and Vine” (later a hit in the U.K.) and “Ice Cream Man,” penned by L.A. poet laureate of the gutter Tom Waits.

The sophomore Bizarre package Stone Crazy leaned heavily on cover material. Duffey recalls fondly, “Jay and I would sit up at night. I’d go over to his house, and he’d talk about Big Jay McNeely and Little Richard, all these people. He’d sit with me and reminisce about all these old guys. We’d talk about oldies radio, and listening to it. He was really knowledgeable about ’50s stuff and ’60s stuff, mostly ’50s. I asked him, ‘Would you like to do some of these on your new record?”