Jerrold Laurence Samuels (May 3, 1938 – March 10, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and talent agent.
[1] Under the pseudonym Napoleon XIV, he achieved one-hit wonder status with the #3 hit novelty song "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
The record quickly climbed the charts, reaching the top ten nationally in just its third week on the Billboard Hot 100.
The success of the single inspired a Warner Bros. album of the same name in 1966 (reissued by Rhino in 1985), most of which continued the mental illness theme, for example: "Bats in My Belfry" and "I Live in a Split Level Head", the latter of which features different vocal parts in each stereo speaker.
[5] The following year, they revealed that it was Samuels' long-lost second studio album, For God's Sake, Stop the Feces!
[2] Samuels was a longtime resident of the Oxford Circle neighborhood of Philadelphia, though he moved to an assisted living facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, after retiring.
[2][7] Samuels died from complications of Parkinson's disease dementia at a hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, on March 10, 2023, at the age of 84.