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Soul singer Jean Knight, who scored a global hit in 1971 with the ultra-funky “Mr Big Stuff”—and its incredibly catchy hook, “Who do you think you are?”—has died at 80.
Born Jean Caliste in New Orleans in 1943, Knight cut her musical teeth after leaving high school and recorded her first demo, a cover of Jackie Wilson’s “Stop Doggin’ Me Around,” at the age of 22, in 1965.
But even though that helped get her first record deal, chart success proved elusive and Knight soon found herself working as a baker to make ends meet before a collaboration with songwriter Ralph Williams changed the trajectory of her career.