Joseph Hinton (November 15, 1929 – August 13, 1968) was an American soul singer. Best remembered for his tender 1964 reading of the Willie Nelson perennial "Funny How Time Slips Away."
Though Clarksdale, Mississippi has been claimed as his birthplace, most sources state that Hinton was born in Evansville, Indiana, where he married LaVerne Flowers and started a family. He began as a gospel singer with the Blair Gospel Singers, the Chosen Gospel Quartet and the Spirit of Memphis Quartet.
After Hinton's aching high tenor was employed to exemplary effect on records like "In the Garden" and "Lost in Sin" (a spiritual rewrite of the Spaniels' secular smash "Peace of Mind"), producer Don Robey, who was the president of the Spirit of Memphis' label, Peacock, convinced the singer to cross over to secular R&B, signing him to Peacock's Back Beat subsidiary in 1958.
Recordings like "I Know" and "Pretty Little Mama" soon followed, and like its predecessor sold poorly -- only with his fifth Back Beat release, 1963's "You Know It Ain't Right," did Hinton finally crack the Billboard Hot 100 charts. His next effort, "Better to Give Than Receive," repeated the trick.
His biggest hit was 1964's "Funny How Time Slips Away", written by Willie Nelson; the tune (simply credited as "Funny" on the original record label) peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.
Cash Box magazine listed "Funny How Time Slips Away" as #1 for four weeks on their R&B chart. The track sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. "I Want a Little Girl", the next single, also charted, but it was his last hit.
Hinton died of skin cancer on August 13, 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 38, while still in the prime of his recording career.
He is usually confused with another R&B singer, who recorded for the Arvee and Soul labels as Little Joe Hinton, and for Hotlanta as Joe Hinton, who is also believed to have recorded under the name Jay Lewis.
(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)