Did This Singer Have the Most Kids of Any Celebrity?

"I Put a Spell on You" is easily one of the most iconic songs of the past 80 years. The jazz-blues-pop-goth record is a deeply out-of-time blend of grunts, seduction, and witchy allure. Everyone's covered it, from Nina Simone to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Bette Midler. But for me, nothing beats the original by Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

It's a raw and aggressive song that's so unabashedly horny that I'm stunned it was recorded in the '50s. The song made Hawkins a star and helped him to reinvent his image as that of a legendary shock-rock performer. During performances, he rose out of coffins, revelled in voodoo imagery, and all but made out with his microphone. The man had the kind of charisma that people would make blood sacrifices for. And boy, did Hawkins have fun with his rockstar life. It may have helped him to set a record in the bedroom.

Hawkins was married six times during his life before dying in 2000 at the age of 70. With his first wife, Anna Mae Vernon, he had three children. His second marriage to Virginia Sabellona was disrupted when his singing partner and sometime girlfriend, Shoutin' Pat Newborn, stabbed him in a fit of jealousy over the news. Hawkins' final wife was around 40 years his junior, but he left his fortune to his fifth wife, causing a legal battle after his death. Over the decades, he often returned to his favourite mistress, the legendary burlesque performer Lee Angel. She really deserves her own post because her life was incredible. She turned with James Brown and Etta James, was obsessed over by Little Richard, and counted bebop giants Sonny Rollins and Dizzy Gillespie among her mentors.

Hawkins was a showman who often made outlandish claims that helped to bolster his image as a figure of shock and awe. So, when he claimed that he had 57 kids, few believed him. But he was insistent. Yes, he had spread his seed far and wide across the planet and there were dozens of mini-Hawkins out there putting a spell on you. Later in life, he upped the number and said it was closer to 75.

The record for the most children fathered by one man goes to Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, the Sultan of Morocco who was rumoured to have had anywhere between 800 and 1171 kids. The scientist Bertold Paul Wiesner fathered potentially 1,000 kids via sperm donations. Basically, these records are held by kings, cult leaders, and creeps with a god complex. When Hawkins died, none of those kids turned up to the funeral, so many assumed it was another of his tall tales, in line with the rockstar legend. But DNA and the internet quickly proved otherwise.

Maral Nigolian, a friend of Hawkins who later became his biographer, decided to set up a website: www.jayskids.com. Sadly, the site is down, but the plan was simple: if you thought you were one of Screamin' Jay's offspring, you could get in touch and make a claim, with some DNA testing to make it official. And plenty of people came forward. How many? According to The Guardian, "the former Mr Jalacy Hawkins has 36 confirmed children," which includes his three with his first wife.

Yikes.

For most of these kids, it was an experience that elicited mixed feelings. Said JB, "I know he has to be my daddy because no one else will claim me." Added Janice, "He promised to marry my mom. He just didn't tell her about his first wife." They all spoke of a pattern: Jay would be in town to perform, women would throw themselves at him, and he’d take advantage while making grand promises of love and matrimony. Then he’d leave, and an army of single mothers would be forced to pick up the pieces.

Nigolian insisted that Jay loved each and every one of his kids and wished he’d gotten to know them, but that was a hard line to swallow. His legitimate kids, or at least the ones who he raised and knew their names, also struggled with the drama. Sookie Hawkins told the New York Times, "I don't know these people. And I don't care what they claim. They are strangers to me. Strangers." None of them wanted to attend the planned reunions or appear on the TV special made about the search.

How many kids is too many kids? Well, there’s an impossible question. Every woman I know has been judged for their perceived fertility, whether it’s by choosing not to have children or only having one or suddenly having too many and oh no, aren’t you such a drain on the welfare system, you wretch? The revival of tradwife propaganda has begun pushing the “barefoot and pregnant” image as the ideal for all women (and the only option, as they attack labour rights and reproductive autonomy.) But that fantasy falls apart once the woman dares to ask for outside help. “Benefit mothers” and “welfare queens” stereotypes remain rampant, even as society demands that we give up our jobs and rely on a man.

But I digress. The point I wanted to make is that there is really no way to “win” at being a mother. Too many kids or not enough, the judgment is the same. For men? Well, the rules are a bit different. Even now, the notion of virility is a celebrated one, divorced from the true duties of masculinity like raising and providing for your loved ones. Consider Nick Cannon’s breeding fetish or men like Mick Jagger and Al Pacino becoming fathers again in their 70s and 80s. Women are told that they’re dried up and useless by 35, but men get to be studs until death, even though we know that it’s medically inadvisable.

The rockstar myth is heavily dependent on the idea of eternal rebellion, of doing whatever you please and damning the consequences. It’s not one that is massively popular in 2026, if only because rock is not the dominant genre it once was and many of its surviving figures have settled down to become normie dads. There’s also the visibility of the media and greater availability of DNA testing to prevent these scrubs from running from their duty. The people who prize this rotten version of manhood, one of fucking and dumping, are typically the same ones who think age of consent laws are a trap and that parenting your offspring is gay. Who wants to be like those losers? Have you seen Andrew Tate in those capris? Try having a spine and not putting your dick first, boys.