Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee . Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records , the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records .
91-411: Stax was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music. Stax also released gospel , funk , and blues recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton (STewart/AXton = Stax). It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's house band , Booker T. &
182-573: A Fool", which received a GRAMMY nomination for Best American Roots Song. Carla's biggest influence was her father, Rufus. Besides accompanying him during his 'MC' days at the Palace Theater, Rufus also encouraged and believed in his daughter's ability. According to Carla, “My dad probably discovered I could sing before I did”. He was also instrumental in setting the stage for her Teen Town Singers gig and for actively pursuing and promoting her breakthrough single, "Gee Whiz". Musically, Thomas
273-626: A complaint from another company named Satellite Records, which had been in operation in California for some years but was previously unaware of the Memphis-based Satellite label. Accordingly, in September 1961, Satellite permanently changed its name to "Stax Records", a portmanteau of the names of the two owners of the company: Jim St ewart and Estelle Ax ton. By 1962, the pieces were in place that allowed Stax to turn from
364-550: A country and pop label for the next year or so. While promoting "Fool in Love", Stewart met with Memphis disc jockey and R&B singer Rufus Thomas , and both parties were impressed by the other. Around the same time, and at the urging of Chips Moman, Stewart moved the company back to Memphis and into an old movie theater , the former Capitol Theatre, at 926 East McLemore Avenue in South Memphis; Stewart recalled that he chose
455-401: A head in early 1966, when Wilson Pickett returned to record new material. Although the session produced two hit songs—"634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)"—Pickett's "corrosive" character caused havoc in the studio; the session musicians eventually walked out, and the breaking point came when Pickett followed them outside and offered them $ 100 each (US$ 967 in 2023 dollars) to complete
546-736: A local instrumental band, the Royal Spades. Changing their name to the Mar-Keys , the band recorded and issued the single "Last Night", which shot to #3 on the US pop charts and #2 on the R&;B charts. "Last Night" was the first single to be nationally distributed on the Satellite label; previous Atlantic issues of Satellite material were issued nationally on the Atlantic or Atco label. This led to
637-487: A new vocal group of two men and two women. They recruited J. Blackfoot , together with Norman West, Anita Louis, and Shelbra Bennett, to form The Soul Children . Between 1968 and 1978, The Soul Children had 15 hits on the R&B chart, including three that crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, and recorded seven albums. Another Memphis 1960s label Goldwax Records , featured James Carr , Spencer Wiggins , and
728-759: A number of modern-day projects, including a 1994 compilation of her greatest hits, a 2002 live recording of a Memphis performance and the 2007 release Live at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., a long lost live recording of Thomas in 1967. She would also occasionally tour during the 1980s and became heavily involved in the “Artists in the Schools” program that provided Memphis schoolchildren with access to successful artists. These workshops were organized to talk to teenagers about music, performing arts and drug abuse. In 1991, she appeared with her father at
819-691: A number of subsidiary labels. Volt, founded in late 1961, was the label home to Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays , and a handful of other artists. Volt releases were initially issued by Atlantic through its subsidiary Atco Records . Other Stax subsidiaries over the years included Enterprise (named after the USS Enterprise from Star Trek , of which Al Bell was a fan), Chalice (a gospel label), Hip, Safice, Magic Touch, and Arch. Redding's first single, "These Arms of Mine", issued in October 1962, hit both
910-407: A problematic distribution deal with CBS Records , caused the label to slide into insolvency , resulting in its forced closure in late 1975. In 1977, Fantasy Records acquired the post-1968 Stax catalogue and selected pre-1968 recordings. Beginning in 1978, Stax (now owned by Fantasy) began signing new acts and issuing new material, as well as reissuing previously recorded Stax material. However, by
1001-504: A substantial regional hit and was picked up for national distribution by Atlantic Records on its Atco subsidiary. It went on to sell between thirty and forty thousand copies, becoming Satellite's biggest hit to that time. With the success of "Cause I Love You", Stewart made a distribution deal giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite recordings. From this point on, Stewart focused more and more on recording and promoting rhythm and blues acts. Not having really known anything about
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#17327723758171092-411: A successful regional label into (alongside Motown and Atlantic) a national R&B powerhouse. Throughout the rest of the 1960s, the label's operations would be greatly aided by several unique factors, including the label's record store, studio, artist and repertoire (A&R) department and house band, which regularly voted with Stewart on which records would be issued on the label. While Stewart ran
1183-417: A two-track recorder should be installed. The Stax team were appalled at the idea, fearing that the distinctive "Stax sound" would be destroyed. However, Dowd pointed out that stereo albums sold for a higher price, which would mean more income for Stax, so in the summer of 1965 he installed an additional two-track recorder, allowing Stax to record sessions simultaneously in mono and stereo, and in 1966 he upgraded
1274-443: A unit of Gulf+Western ; the sale brought it into direct co-ownership with Dot Records , a pop label Paramount had owned since 1957. Consequently, Stax was forced to move forward without the most desirable portion of its back catalogue and without Sam and Dave, who had been unofficially "on loan" to Stax up to this point, and who were forced to return to Atlantic after the split (although they never scored another major hit). The company
1365-416: A week (US$ 1,174 in 2023 dollars). This allowed them to quit their night jobs and become full-time professional studio musicians, and from this point on Booker T. and the M.G.'s regularly backed virtually all of the artists who recorded at Stax. Bell also persuaded Jim Stewart to set up a "production pool", in which a small portion of the royalty payments Stax was receiving from Atlantic was split equally between
1456-531: A whopping 27 albums (a Rufus Thomas album titled May I Have Your Ticket Please? was to be the 28th album released by the Gulf+Western-owned Stax, but the album was never finished) and 30 singles in mid-1969. Producer and songwriter Isaac Hayes stepped into the spotlight with Hot Buttered Soul . Originally seen just as a solo artistic project for Hayes to make up the numbers, it went on to sell over three million copies in 1969. By 1971, Hayes
1547-618: Is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul . She is best known for her 1960s recordings for Atlantic and Stax including the hits " Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes) " (1960), " B-A-B-Y " (1966) and "Tramp" (1967), a duet with Otis Redding . She is the daughter of Rufus Thomas . Thomas was born and raised in the Foote Homes Projects in Memphis , Tennessee , United States. Along with her siblings, Marvell and Vaneese , she
1638-746: The Porretta Terme Soul Festival. In 1993, Thomas was awarded the prestigious Pioneer Award, along with such musical heavyweights as James Brown and Solomon Burke , from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in honor of her career achievements. She was also featured in the 2003 documentary Only the Strong Survive , that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and showcased important Stax recording artists. In 2021, Thomas featured on Valerie June 's single "Call Me
1729-891: The Southern United States . The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump ), country , early R&B , and a strong gospel influence that emanated from the sounds of Southern black churches . Bass guitar, drums, horn section, and gospel roots vocal are important to soul groove . This rhythmic force made it a strong influence in the rise of funk music. The terms "deep soul", "country soul", "downhome soul" and "hard soul" have been used synonymously with "Southern soul". See also: Some soul musicians were from southern states: these included Georgia natives Otis Redding and James Brown , Rufus Thomas and Bobby "Blue" Bland (from Tennessee ), Eddie Floyd (from Alabama), Johnnie Taylor, Al Green (from Arkansas ). Southern soul
1820-471: The grueling schedule, she enjoyed the experience: "It was a lot of fun, it really was." She remained with the Teen Town Singers until the end of her senior year. Thomas is best known for the work she completed for both Atlantic Records and most notably, Stax Records in the 1960s. Her first record, "'Cause I Love You" (1960), was a duet with her father, with brother Marvell on keyboards, that
1911-462: The "Muscle Shoals Sound" by distributing Percy Sledge 's " When a Man Loves a Woman ", recorded at Rick Hall 's FAME Studios . FAME becoming the studio of choice for new and experienced artists alike. Establishing the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama as a major part of southern soul. Aretha Franklin credits FAME as the place her career turned around, and Etta James recorded hit album " Tell Mama " there. The Stax label's most successful artist of
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#17327723758172002-464: The 1959–1968 Stax material. Stax Records, originally named Satellite Records , was founded in Memphis in 1957 by Jim Stewart , initially operating in a garage. Satellite's early releases were country music , rockabilly records or straight pop numbers, reflecting the tastes of Stewart (a country fiddle player) at the time. In 1958, Stewart's sister Estelle Axton began her financial interest in
2093-520: The 1960s, Otis Redding , was influenced by fellow Georgia native Little Richard and the more cosmopolitan sounds of Mississippi -born Sam Cooke . Other Stax artists of note included Johnnie Taylor , Soul Children , the Dramatics (from Detroit), Eddie Floyd , the Staple Singers , Carla Thomas , and Isaac Hayes . Atlantic Records artists Sam & Dave 's records were released on
2184-485: The African-American-centered WDIA radio station sponsored a rotating musical group of high school students called the Teen Town Singers; notable alumni include Anita Louis and Isaac Hayes . Although the requirements to join the Teen Town Singers stated that the person should be of high school age, Thomas became a member in 1952 at the age of 10. She was able to sneak into their ranks thanks to
2275-513: The Atlantic label. Her first hit, " Gee Whiz ", was originally issued as Satellite 104, but it was quickly reissued as Atlantic 2086, becoming a hit in early 1961. Her recordings would continue to be issued on Atlantic through mid-1965, though much of her work was recorded in the studios at Satellite (later Stax) or in Nashville under the supervision of the Stax staff. In June 1961, Satellite signed
2366-532: The Big Six to pay them for their production duties with the artists they backed. Stax was located in Memphis, Tennessee, which was still a segregated city, where Martin Luther King Jr., a leader of the civil rights movement, was assassinated in 1968. While there was much racism around the artists, the Stax recording studio seemed to be an escape from the turmoil of the real world. When the artists went into
2457-455: The Dramatics, Frederick Knight and The Soul Children . Even Rufus Thomas , one of the first artists signed to the label, enjoyed a popular resurgence with a string of hits in the late 1960s/early 1970s. However, Stax's record sales were down overall under Paramount, whose management were also trying to exert more control of the operation. In 1970, Stewart and Bell decided to purchase the label back, with financial help from Deutsche Grammophon ,
2548-546: The European record company owned at the time by the giant Grammophon-Philips Group (renamed PolyGram in 1972). The financing on Deutsche Grammophon's end led to Stax's post-Paramount recordings being distributed outside of the United States by DG's pop label, Polydor Records , from 1970 until Stax fell into bankruptcy. By the fall of 1970, both Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones were frustrated with Stax's treatment of
2639-555: The M.G.'s ) and a racially integrated team of staff and artists unprecedented in that time of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South. According to ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman , the label's use of "one studio, one equipment set-up, the same set of musicians and a small group of songwriters led to a readily identifiable sound. It was a sound based in black gospel, blues, country , and earlier forms of rhythm and blues (R&B). It became known as southern soul music." Following
2730-675: The M.G.'s, Eddie Floyd , the Bar-Kays , Albert King , and the Mad Lads. In 1966, Floyd recorded a tune named " Knock on Wood ", which he wrote with Steve Cropper; Stewart was initially indifferent to the tune but released it after he was outvoted by the house band on the notion of issuing the record. It became an international smash hit, and Stewart reflected positively on its success afterward. Unlike Motown, which frequently packaged its artists on review tours, Stax only infrequently sponsored concerts to promote its acts. The first of such concerts
2821-590: The M.G.'s. However, despite dozens of other releases, only three other Stax/Volt singles charted during this time, and all just barely: William Bell's " You Don't Miss Your Water " hit #95 in early 1962; the Mar-Keys' "Pop-Eye Stroll" hit #94 in mid-1962 (although it was a big hit in Canada, hitting #1 on Toronto's CHUM Chart ), and Barbara & the Browns' "Big Party" made it to #97 in mid-1964. Beginning in 1965, when
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2912-475: The MGs, and left the company and stopped playing sessions for Stax. Even though Jones was given the title of Vice President at Stax before leaving, as he put it, "There were titles given (to us) but we didn't actually make the decisions." A final Booker T. and the MGs album was issued in 1971. Southern soul Southern soul , also called Country Soul is a type of soul and country music that emerged from
3003-486: The Midnight Hour ", "Don't Fight It", "634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" were Stax songs in all but name, as they were all co-written by Steve Cropper, recorded at Stax, and backed by the Stax house band. Although Wexler was greatly enamoured of Stax's "organic" recording methods, some of the artists they brought in created conflict. A June 1965 session with Don Covay created bad feelings, which came to
3094-1145: The Ovations. Al Green , Otis Clay , O.V. Wright, Don Bryant , Ann Peebles and Quiet Elegance recorded for Memphis's 70s label Hi Records , where they were produced by Willie Mitchell . Also influential was the "Muscle Shoals Sound", originating from Muscle Shoals, Alabama . The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on hits by many Stax artists during the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, and Atlantic Records artists Wilson Pickett , Percy Sledge , Joe Tex and Aretha Franklin . Producer and session guitarist Chips Moman produced Bobby Womack and Womack wrote R&B song "I'm in Love" for Wilson Pickett . Bobby Womack gained R&B hit "If You Think You're Lonely Now" in 1981. Malaco Records introduced Dorothy Moore, Bobby Bland , Johnnie Taylor, Denise Lasalle, Little Milton and others. In 1983, former Soul Children singer J. Blackfoot saw success on soul chart with his single "Taxi". In 1987, Marvin Sease gained an R&B hit with "Candy Licker". After 1990, southern soul music
3185-544: The R&B and the pop charts. Though the label had enjoyed some early hits with the Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Redding became the first Stax/Volt artist to consistently hit the charts with each release—in fact, each of Redding's 17 singles issued during his lifetime charted. (Carla Thomas also charted with some consistency, but her pre-1965 releases were on Atlantic, not Stax or Volt.) Between January 1962 and December 1964, Stax and Volt released several chart hits each by Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Booker T. and
3276-516: The R&B genre prior to having recorded acts such as the Veltones and Rufus & Carla, Stewart likened the situation to that of "a blind man who suddenly gained his sight." From 1961 on, virtually all of the output of Satellite Records (and its successor labels Stax and Volt) would be in the R&B/southern soul style. As part of the deal with Atlantic, Satellite agreed to continue recording Carla Thomas but allowed her recordings to be released on
3367-530: The Shreveport-based Murco Records released "Losin' Boy" by Eddy Giles , which held a place on Cashbox magazine's Hot 100 for five weeks. Murco Records had soul chart success with its other artist included Reuben Bell . Other significant contributors were Stax Records with their house band Booker T. & the MGs as well as New York based Label Atlantic Records . Atlantic was Ray Charles 's home, and became an early exporter of
3458-475: The Stax label and featured the MGs. Wilson Pickett launched his solo career through his collaboration with the Stax team, and Pickett gained big hit "Land of a Thousand Dances" with FAME Studios musicians in Muscle Shoals, Alabama . . After Sam & Dave moved from Stax to Atlantic Records , Stax producer David Porter and his songwriting and production partner Isaac Hayes decided to put together
3549-433: The Stax rhythm section as salaried Stax employees. In 1967, Atlantic Records was sold to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts . The sale of Atlantic to Warner activated a "key man" clause (which Jim Stewart had insisted upon) in the distribution contract between Stax and Atlantic. This called for the renegotiation or termination of the distribution deal in the event that Stewart's nominated "key man" at Atlantic— Jerry Wexler —either left
3640-486: The Stax singers never try to embody abject lust. — Robert Christgau in The New York Times (1969) Although Stax had also lost their most valuable artists, they recovered quickly. Johnnie Taylor gave Stax its first big post-Atlantic hit in 1968 with "Who's Making Love", which became the label's best-selling single to that point. To begin rebuilding its catalog, Stax, under orders from Al Bell, released
3731-566: The Top 10 on the pop chart and within the top 5 on the R&B chart, it had an inauspicious beginning. Initially recorded at the Thomas family home, Rufus shopped the song to Vee-Jay Records in Chicago . Vee-Jay never followed through or actively pursued securing the distribution rights. Because of his belief in the song's potential, Rufus returned to Memphis and in the summer of 1960, Thomas would cut
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3822-446: The address. We didn't have any sound equipment or anything else but a small building and a lot of desire." Around this time, Stewart was introduced to rhythm and blues music by staff producer Chips Moman . In the summer of that year, Satellite released its first record by a rhythm and blues act, "Fool in Love", by the Veltones, which was soon picked up for national distribution by Mercury Records . However, Satellite remained primarily
3913-467: The artists and their label, it also marked another significant change in the political landscape at Stax. At a fraught tour meeting in Al Bell's hotel room, Steve Cropper was summarily removed as Stax's A&R director, and Al Bell took over the position. Following the touring party's return to Memphis, Bell was also promoted to executive vice president, and horn players Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love joined
4004-399: The band's primary bassist, replacing Steinberg in 1964. Jones was frequently absent from Stax over several years in the mid-1960s, while he pursued his musical studies at Indiana University, so during this period Isaac Hayes usually replaced him as the house band's regular pianist, although the two occasionally performed on recordings together when Jones was back in Memphis. Other members of
4095-466: The building because "it was in the area close to where Rufus Thomas (WDIA Radio disk jockey) lived [alongside] several of the other musicians and writers that are still working with the studio today. They drifted in and we got locked in on the rhythm and blues field." In the summer of 1960, Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla were the first artists to make a recording in this new facility; the record, "Cause I Love You" (credited to Rufus & Carla), became
4186-695: The chart debuts of Stax artists the Astors and Sam & Dave plus Volt artists the Mad Lads . Sam & Dave were technically on the Atlantic roster but were "leased" to Stax by Atlantic, with Stax overseeing their recordings and issuing them on the Stax label. Virtually all of Sam & Dave's Stax material was written and produced by Hayes and Porter. Atlantic's Jerry Wexler also brought Don Covay and Wilson Pickett to record at Stax, though these songs were released directly by Atlantic. Covay's hits "See Saw" and "Sookie Sookie" and Pickett's 1965 and 1966 hits " In
4277-595: The company at the end of 1961 after a royalty dispute with Stewart; he soon opened his own studio across town. Mar-Keys member Steve Cropper replaced Moman as Stewart's assistant and A&R director. Cropper would quickly become a writer, producer and session guitarist on scores of Stax singles. In the first few years at Stax, the house band varied, although Cropper, bassist Lewie Steinberg , drummers Howard Grimes or Curtis Green, and horn players Floyd Newman, Gene "Bowlegs" Miller , and Gilbert Caple were relative constants. By 1962, multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones
4368-469: The company or sold his stock in Atlantic. Stax initially hoped to join Atlantic in the Warner buyout, so Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton and Al Bell flew to New York hoping to negotiate a deal, but according to Stewart the figure they were offered was "an insult". Stewart then approached Warner-Seven Arts directly, but their offer was similarly unacceptable to Stax. Unhappy with either offer, Stewart then asked for
4459-546: The company, and disputes between the two executives led to an impasse where Bell made plans to leave the company. Forced to choose between his sister and his vice president, Stewart asked Axton to step down from the company. By 1970, she had sold her shares and would later go on to found Fretone Records, which had a major success in 1976 with the chart-topping " Disco Duck ". After the Atlantic distribution deal expired in May 1968, Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after
4550-502: The company. Taking a considerable financial risk, she mortgaged her family home to invest US$ 2,500 (US$ 26,401 in 2023 dollars) in the company, enabling Satellite to purchase an Ampex 350 mono console tape recorder. The company set up a small recording studio in a converted garage near National Cemetery in Brunswick, Tennessee , in 1959. In 1970, Stewart recalled this portion of the label's origins, and remarked, "I don't even remember
4641-421: The day, developing songs and arrangements, but they were paid for recordings only when the actual sessions took place, so most had to play at local venues in the evenings to earn enough to support themselves and their families. To remedy this, in 1966 Al Bell appointed the members of the so-called Big Six (Hayes, Porter and Booker T. & the M.G.'s) as full-time salaried employees of Stax, on a fixed salary of $ 125
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#17327723758174732-479: The death of Stax's biggest star, Otis Redding , in 1967, and the severance of the label's distribution deal with Atlantic Records in 1968, Stax continued primarily under the supervision of a new co-owner, Al Bell . Over the next five years, Bell expanded the label's operations significantly, in order to compete with Stax's main rival, Motown Records in Detroit . During the mid-1970s, a number of factors, including
4823-406: The early 1980s, no new material was being issued on the label, and for the next two decades, Stax was strictly a reissue label. After Concord Records acquired Fantasy in 2004, the Stax label was reactivated, and is today used to issue both the 1968–1975 catalog material and new recordings by current R&B and soul performers. Atlantic Records continues to hold the rights to the vast majority of
4914-502: The equipment fixed within two days, and on the Sunday he was able to act as engineer during the creation of a new Rufus Thomas track. He was amazed by the loose, improvisational feel of the session and by the way Thomas and the musicians developed and recorded the song: Thomas simply sang through the new number for the band once or twice, humming suggestions for their parts and sounding the rhythm by clacking his teeth close to their ears. Once
5005-411: The fact that her father Rufus was an on-air personality for the radio station. This opportunity with the Teen Town Singers did not come without its drawbacks though. As a 10-year-old student, Thomas was responsible for not only attending classes and completing her schoolwork, but she also had to attend rehearsals on Wednesdays and Fridays after school and then perform at the station on Saturday. Despite
5096-522: The featured vocalist or instrumentalist, and the arranger would write sheet music arrangements for the musicians to work from. Such unionised sessions were run strictly "by the clock" and there was a strict demarcation between the studio and the control room. By contrast, the Stax sessions ran as long as was needed, the musicians moved freely between the control room and the studio floor, and all were free to make suggestions and contributions as they worked up what are known as head arrangements , in which none of
5187-456: The house band included horn players Andrew Love, Joe Arnold, and Wayne Jackson. Hayes had auditioned for Stax in 1962, unsuccessfully, but by 1964 he became a vital part of the Stax house band, along with his songwriting partner, David Porter . Cropper, Dunn, Hayes, Jackson, Jones and Porter were collectively known as the "Big Six" within the walls of Stax and were (either as a group or in various combinations) responsible for producing almost all of
5278-408: The label formalized its distribution agreement with Atlantic, Stax/Volt artists made the charts much more frequently. In 1965, Jim Stewart signed a formal national distribution deal with Atlantic Records, although fatefully he signed the contract without reading it—a decision that would later cost the label dearly. Carla Thomas also formally rejoined the Stax label in 1965. Perhaps more importantly for
5369-418: The label's fortunes, the songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter began to establish themselves as Stax's new team of hit writer/producers. Hayes would also permanently join the Stax house band, often subbing for Booker T. Jones, who was studying music full-time at Indiana University during the mid-1960s. In addition to hits by stalwarts Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and Carla Thomas, 1965 saw
5460-420: The label's output from about 1963 through 1969. The Stax house band's working methods were unusual for popular music recording at the time, and it was this that attracted the interest of Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler . For most major recording companies at the time, the standard practice was for the label's staff producer or A&R manager to hire a studio, an arranger and the session musicians who were to back
5551-403: The music that Stax recorded. The store quickly became a popular hangout for local teenagers and was used to test-market potential Stax singles, as acetates of recently recorded Stax music were played to gauge customers' reactions. It also provided regular employment for many of the young hopefuls who later became part of Stax's musical family and provided cash flow in the early years while the label
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#17327723758175642-461: The musicians' parts were written down and nothing was worked out in advance. Stax's unusual working methods first came to Wexler's attention in the fall of 1963. He was expecting a new single from Carla Thomas, but when he contacted Stax he was told that they had been unable to record for two weeks because of faults in the recording equipment, so he immediately flew Atlantic's highly skilled house engineer Tom Dowd down to Memphis that Friday. Dowd had
5733-468: The new head arrangement was established, Dowd started recording, and Thomas and the band nailed the song in just two takes. When Dowd returned to New York the next day he had the tape of Thomas' breakthrough hit " Walking the Dog ", which Jim Stewart lauded as the best-sounding record Stax had yet produced. Wexler later commented: Memphis was a real departure, because Memphis was a return to head arrangements, to
5824-529: The pop chart and number 5 on the R&B chart. While she continued to have success on the R&B charts throughout the 1960s, her only other solo top 40 pop hit was "B-A-B-Y", reaching number 14 in 1966. Her duet, "Tramp", with Otis Redding reached number 26 on the pop chart the following year.and her album of duets with Otis Redding , King & Queen , was a number 18 hit in the UK Albums Chart . Although this single would eventually chart within
5915-410: The property of Stax; all of the masters delivered to Atlantic between 1960 and 1967 are still wholly owned by Atlantic's current parent company, Warner Music Group . Stewart regarded his original deal with Wexler as a gentleman's agreement, and when the distribution arrangement was formalized with a contract in 1965, he had signed it without reading it, thus missing the fateful ownership clause. Stewart
6006-439: The record distributors. Stax has a reputation for the kind of guttural candor that first attracts many white fans to black music— Johnnie Taylor croaking "Who's making love to your old lady while you're out making love?" But so often it's more subtle. Above all, the Stax sound is mellow, not sweet or cool or otherwise untrue to its roots, but mellow. Horn riffs and bass-lines accent but never dominate, and even at their sexy best
6097-419: The recording studio where the auditorium had been, Axton ran the Satellite record shop, which she established in the cinema's old foyer, where the refreshment stand had been. (The store later expanded next door into a vacated barber shop.) The Satellite store sold records from a wide variety of labels, which gave the Stax staff first-hand knowledge of what kind of music was selling—and was subsequently reflected in
6188-403: The return of the Stax masters, but the executives at Warner-Seven Arts refused. It was then that he was informed that Atlantic's lawyer Paul Marshall had included a clause in the 1965 distribution contract that gave Atlantic all right, title and interest, including any rights of reproduction, in all Stax's Atlantic-distributed recordings between 1960 and 1967. Only its unreleased recordings remained
6279-417: The riots that followed King's murder, many properties in the vicinity of the Stax studio were attacked by rioters, but Stax was left untouched. Stewart remained at the company, and former Stax marketing executive Al Bell became the company's vice president and a co-owner, taking on a more active role as Stewart became less active in Stax's day-to-day operations. Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for
6370-482: The session. As a result, the furious house band bluntly told Jim Stewart not to bring "that asshole" to the studio again. Also tired of another label capitalizing on the Stax sound, Stewart phoned Wexler soon after the Pickett session and told him that he wanted to do no more Stax productions of non-Stax artists. One Atlantic artist who was thus not able to record at Stax was the newly signed Aretha Franklin . She instead
6461-449: The set rhythm section away from the arranger. It was a return to the symbiosis between the producer and the rhythm section. It was really something new. Another important factor in Stax's success was the studio itself. The recording studio, located at 926 E McLemore Ave in Memphis, was a converted movie theater, which still had the sloped floor where the seats had once been. Because the room was imbalanced, it created an acoustic anomaly that
6552-672: The single also propelled Thomas into the spotlight, as she performed on American Bandstand . According to Thomas, "The record was young-sounding, romantic and it expressed what a lot of people wanted to say at that age, but still, I was surprised at how well it did". Not only did this song provide a launching pad for Thomas' first album, but it also gave Stax Records national exposure and label recognition. After her last Stax recording in 1971, Love Means... , and an appearance in Wattstax in 1972, Thomas slipped into relative obscurity when compared to her 1960s musical heyday. She featured in
6643-521: The split. These recordings feature the alternate Stax/Volt logos used on the album covers on their labels, as opposed to the original Atlantic-era logos, such as the "Stax-o-Wax" logo. Stax label recordings were reissued on the Atlantic label, and Volt label material on the Atco label. Gulf+Western-owned Stax/Volt releases used new label designs, new logos (including the recognizable finger snapping logo) and new catalogue numbering systems to avoid confusion among
6734-519: The studio further with a four-track recorder. The label's biggest early star, soul singer Otis Redding , also arrived in 1962. Redding, however, technically was not on Stax, but on its sister label Volt. In that era, many radio stations, anxious to avoid even the hint of payola , often refused to play more than one or two new songs from any single record label at one time, so as to not appear to be offering favoritism to any particular label. To circumvent this, Stax, like many other record companies, created
6825-456: The studio, they were there for one reason only, and that was to make hit music, some of which had the social consciousness that became a soundtrack for the civil rights movement. On their 1967 tour in Europe, some of the Stax artists were taken aback by the welcome that they received, enjoying a better reception in parts of Europe than in the United States. Although the trip was a huge success for
6916-406: The teen love song that she wrote when she was only 15 years old. The song was released by Rufus and Carla in October 1960, to not much fanfare. By February 1961, thanks to a distribution deal between Satellite and Atlantic Records, the song was being distributed nationally through Atlantic just as Thomas was in the midst of her first year at Tennessee A&I University in Nashville. The success of
7007-446: The young writers and musicians. Booker T. Jones described Estelle as "an inspirer": She just loved music, loved people. She was always bringing us up there (the record shop), having us listen to records. She kept us in touch with the music industry. I doubt there would have been a Stax Records without Estelle Axton. She encouraged the entire Stax roster from her little perch behind the counter. Original A&R director Chips Moman left
7098-415: Was a tour of England and France in 1967, which played to sold-out crowds. Stax released several live albums from the tour recordings, including the best-selling Otis Live in Europe . In 1967 Stax was at the height of its fame. Alongside Otis Redding were soul singers Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas and writer Isaac Hayes, who would have a deep impact on funk music in the 1970s. Also signed to the record label
7189-499: Was also a regular session musician at Stax (he was primarily a pianist and organist, but he played sax on "Cause I Love You"), as was bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn . Jones, Steinberg and Cropper were joined in mid-1962 by drummer Al Jackson Jr. to form Booker T. & the M.G.'s , an instrumental combo that would record numerous hit singles in their own right and served as the de facto house band for virtually every recording made at Stax from 1962 through about 1970. Dunn eventually became
7280-482: Was at its peak through the 1960s, when Memphis soul and the Muscle Shoals sound were popular. In 1963, Stan Lewis founded Jewel Records in Shreveport, Louisiana, along with two subsidiary labels, Paula and Ronn. Lewis signed soul and blues artists such as Toissaint McCall , Bobby Rush , John Lee Hooker , Charles Brown , Buster Benton , Lightnin’ Hopkins , Ted Taylor and Little Johnny Taylor . In 1966,
7371-413: Was audible on recordings, often giving them a big, deep yet raw sound. Soul music historian Rob Bowman notes that because of the distinctive sound, soul music fans can tell often within the first few notes if a song was recorded at Stax. When Tom Dowd first arrived at Stax in 1963 the studio was still using the veteran Ampex mono recorder it had purchased in the late Fifties. Dowd immediately suggested that
7462-483: Was dealt another crushing blow when its biggest and best-loved artist, Otis Redding , as well as all but two of the members of the Bar-Kays, died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. In April 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the place where many members of the Stax staff regularly met and ate, and where Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd had written "Knock on Wood". In
7553-513: Was established as the label's biggest star and was particularly noted for his best-selling soundtrack to the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft . Hayes' recordings were among the releases on a third major Stax label, Enterprise, which had been founded in 1967. The label also enjoyed great success when it had the Staple Singers make a dramatic shift from Gospel music to mainstream R&B. Al Bell began signing many more artists such as
7644-602: Was furious at what he felt was Atlantic's—and Wexler's—betrayal of his trust, although Wexler continued to insist for years that he also had not read the contract and had nothing to do with the ownership clause, and Wexler resented the situation in his 1993 autobiography Rhythm and the Blues : There was no righting this wrong, Jim was screwed, and I feel bad about it to this day. As a result of this turn of events, Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic, and, on May 13, 1968, he instead sold Stax to Paramount Pictures ,
7735-607: Was in the summer of 1965, in Los Angeles rather than in Memphis. While the show was a success, the Watts riots began the day afterward, and several Stax artists were trapped in Watts during the violence. Stax also sponsored a Christmas concert in Memphis for several years, the most notorious of which was held in 1968, when special guest Janis Joplin performed drunk and was booed off of the stage. The most successful Stax package revue
7826-484: Was one of three musical children of Rufus and Lorene Thomas. Despite growing up in the projects, the Thomas family lived near the Palace Theater on Beale Street , as Rufus was the theater's Master of Ceremonies (MC) for their amateur shows. This access not only gave Thomas her first taste of the music world but it also provided a springboard for her transformation into the Queen of the Memphis Sound. In Memphis,
7917-488: Was released by Satellite Records, which eventually became Stax Records. Recorded when Thomas was still attending Hamilton High School in Memphis, the record drew enough local attention to catch the interest of Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records . He signed a deal with the owners of Satellite Records, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton , to distribute "Cause I Love You" and thus paved the way for Thomas’ most famous single, " Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes) ", reaching number 10 on
8008-473: Was sent to Rick Hall's FAME studios in Alabama, which had a sound similar to that of Stax. Pickett's subsequent hits were also recorded elsewhere, including at Fame and American Group Productions , Chips Moman's Memphis studio. Through 1966 and 1967, Stax and its subsidiaries hit their stride, regularly scoring hits with artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, William Bell , Booker T. &
8099-400: Was still recorded and performed by singers such as Sharon Jones , Charles Bradley , Peggy Scott-Adams , Trudy Lynn , Roy C , Sir Charles Jones , Barbara Carr , Willie Clayton , Bobby Rush , Denise LaSalle , Gwen McCrae , Johnnie Taylor , Omar Cunningham , and William Bell . Carla Thomas Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer , who
8190-536: Was struggling to establish itself. In his 2013 book Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion , Robert Gordon highlighted the importance of Estelle Axton to the company. Often addressed as "Miz Axton" or "Lady A.", she was respected by the Stax staff and performers and was regarded as a mother figure in the company. Although she had no formal training or experience in marketing, she had an unerring instinct for music and made many valuable suggestions to
8281-405: Was the house band, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, who were breaking boundaries in integration. Two of the band members were black and two were white, which at the time was unheard of, because of racial turmoil in the United States. In contrast to Stax's rapidly rising fortunes at this time, most of the house band were struggling to make a living: the musicians often worked long hours in the studio during
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