Soulful.
It’s the adjective that best describes local cobbler and musician James Napier. He’s a man with plenty of soul.
Soul is not only the genre of music Napier creates and performs, but also what is required to reintroduce his father’s shoe repair business to Covington. His new business will be one of a few shoe repair businesses left in Kentucky. His shop gives off a welcoming and comfortable vibe, a direct correlation to Napier’s personable aura.
Napier returned to Covington from Delaware looking to continue his father’s legacy in the city they both loved. Factory Finish Shoe Repair, located at 27 E. 7th Street in Covington, is scheduled to open on April 1. The shop will be the next iteration of his father’s original creation.
“I mentioned it at my father’s funeral,” Napier said. “Even though I was on tour at the time, I would say, ‘you know in five or six years, I’m going to break the tour and come back home.’ I want to make sure I go back to Covington. I’m looking forward to it. I want to be a part of Covington again.”
Napier not only repairs shoes and boots, but also other leather products. Need your son or daughter’s baseball glove repaired? Napier is the man to call.
In total, the store will clean and recolor Timberlands, refinish or dye purses, waterproof leather goods, do spit shines, saddle work, and clean, condition and repair leather coats. The business also offers cleaning and stretching for hats.
Both his passions, cobbling and music, have allowed him to encounter incredible people throughout his journey such as MC Hammer, Prince and basketball great Oscar Robertson. One such instance, an emergency shoe repair, nearly led him to meet a former U.S. president.
Napier was working at his shoe repair business in Dover, Delaware on what seemed to be a normal day. Coincidentally, the 44th President, Barack Obama, was on his way to Dover Air Force Base to honor fallen soldiers. As fate would have it, one of President Obama’s Secret Servicemen had a shoe malfunction. The bottom of the man’s shoe had completely fallen off. The Dover Police Department, which was helping escort the president, knew Napier was exactly the man to call.
“Here comes the Secret Service. A Dover cop car pulls up,” Napier said. “He said, ‘Man, could you just stick this back on there? The President will be here in 40 minutes!’ I had it done in 15 minutes or so. The guy ended up with one of my business cards.”
When the Secret Serviceman eventually made his way back to the White House, he made sure to mail Napier a picture of his freshly repaired shoe in front of the podium in the White House Briefing Room. According to Napier, the secret serviceman relayed the message of his timely shoe repair rescue to President Obama, who promptly responded, according to Napier, “If I would’ve know that, I would’ve (gone) there to meet him with you.”
Napier is a son of Covington, although he originally hails from Cincinnati. Napier’s father was a cobbler by trade. His father’s former shoe repair business was located next to Covington Chili on Madison Avenue.
“I’ve known this guy for 35 years,” George Stephan, son of the former owner of Covington Chili and longtime friend of Napier, said. “James’s first paid job was actually at Covington Chili. He shined my shoes a few times when we were younger.”
“I think you still owe me a few paid hours,” Napier jokingly retorted.
His father, Frenchman Napier, owned Frenchman’s Shoe Service in Covington. Frenchman learned how to repair shoes from attending vocational school on 7th Street in Cincinnati. By the time Frenchman finished school, the school’s leadership promoted him to an instructional role.
“My father apparently was the best in his class. The director of the program had just passed,” Napier said. “They didn’t know who was going to teach the class. My father was the best student in the class. They ended up hiring my father as the teacher. He started teaching immediately.”
Now 63 years old, Napier wants to impact the community through his cobbling business the same way his father did.
Napier’s soul music is another tool of influence at his disposal. Napier is a talented musician who plays the guitar, piano, and sings. His musical heroes include the likes of Sam Cooke and George Benson. Napier records and produces his own classical soul albums. CDs of his original music can be found at his new shop.
Napier has set up his own personal Wall of Fame in his new shop. The wall features multiple pictures of Napier with MC Hammer, a man he describes as a friend. They both met when they were 23 years old and once performed together at the Belterra Casino.
The wall also features a picture of Prince, whom Napier had met. Prince was in a hurry at the time, so Napier just missed receiving the music icon’s autograph for his picture.
An autographed picture of Randy Marsh, a Major League Baseball umpire from Covington, hangs adjacent from Prince.
Newspaper clippings from Delaware-based publications profiling Napier and his endeavors line the wall. A copy of Napier’s first album, recorded at a studio in Erlanger, hangs on the wall, too. Certificates of recognition, a key to the City of Elsmere, and multiple certificates of appreciation from Nashville complete the vast collage.
Napier’s return to Covington demonstrates his tremendous appreciation for a city that helped raise him. Napier is now wiser. He’s seen the world. Napier will share his wealth of knowledge with a younger generation, who need thoughtful voices such as his, to help raise them next.
