R. B. Greaves (born Ronald Bertram Aloysius Greaves III, 28 November 1944, Georgetown, Guyana) is a singer of African and Seminole descent whose 1969 song, "Take A Letter Maria", went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Written by Greaves, the song has a distinct Latin flavor, complete with a mariachi-style horn section. The song is the story of a man who learns of his wife's infidelity the night before and dictates a letter of separation to "Maria", his ostensibly Hispanic secretary.[1] This disc stayed in the Billboard chart for 15 weeks, selling a million copies with the gold record from the R.I.A.A. on 11 December 1969.[1] By 1970 sales of the record totalled 2.5 million.[1]
A nephew of Sam Cooke, he grew up on a Seminole Indian reservation in the United States, but moved to England in 1963.[1] Greaves had built a career both in the Caribbean and in Great Britain, where he performed under the name Sonny Childe with his group The TNTs. His biggest hit had been recorded by both Tom Jones and Stevie Wonder before the author recorded it himself at the insistence of Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegün, who produced it. Greaves.