Stax Records: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|American record label}} |
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{{infobox record label |
{{infobox record label |
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| image = [[Image:Stax-records-logo.jpg|75px]] |
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| parent = [[Concord (entertainment company)|Concord]] |
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| image_bg = white |
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| founded = {{start date and age|1957}} |
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| parent = [[Concord Music Group]] |
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| founder = [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]], [[Estelle Axton]] |
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| founded = {{start date and age|1957}} |
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| location = [[Memphis, Tennessee]] |
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| founder = [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]], [[Estelle Axton]] |
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| distributor = {{hlist|[[Concord Records]] (in the [[United States]])|[[Universal Music Group]] (distribution)|[[Craft Recordings]] (reissues) |
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| location = [[Memphis, Tennessee]] |
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[[Atlantic Records]]|[[Rhino Entertainment]] (Pre-1968 catalog)}} |
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| distributor = [[Concord Records]] (in the [[United States]]), [[Universal Music Group]] |
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| genre = {{Flatlist| |
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*[[Soul music|Soul]] |
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| country = [[United States]] |
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*[[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] |
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| url = {{URL|http://www.staxrecords.com}} |
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*[[Funk]] |
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*[[Progressive rock|Prog rock]] |
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}} |
}} |
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| url = {{URL|http://www.staxrecords.com}} |
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}} |
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'''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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 11, 1961 |title=Billboard Music Week |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1961/Billboard%201961-09-11.pdf |access-date=2024-10-26 |work=Billboard |page=3}}</ref> It also shared its operations with sister label '''Volt Records'''. |
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Stax was influential in the creation of [[Southern soul]] and [[Memphis soul]] music. Stax also released [[Gospel music|gospel]], [[funk]], and [[blues]] recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]] and [[Estelle Axton]] (STewart/AXton = Stax).<ref name=danois>{{cite web|last1=Blount Danois|first1=Ericka|title=The Soul of Stax Records|url=http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/the-soul-of-stax/|website=Waxpoetics.com|access-date=2015-12-23}}</ref> It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's [[house band]], [[Booker T. & 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.<ref name=danois/> According to [[Ethnomusicology|ethnomusicologist]] [[Rob Bowman (music writer)|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 music|country]], and earlier forms of [[rhythm and blues]] (R&B). It became known as southern soul music."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bowman|first=Rob|date=October 1995|journal=Popular Music|issue=3|volume=14|title=The Stax sound: a musicological world fart analysis|pages=285–320|doi=10.1017/S0261143000007753|s2cid=162379706 }}</ref> |
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'''Stax Records''' is an [[United States|American]] [[record label]], originally based in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. |
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Founded in 1957 as '''Satellite Records''', the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It was a major factor in the creation of [[Southern soul]] and [[Memphis soul]] music. Stax also released [[Gospel music|gospel]], [[funk]], [[jazz]], and [[blues]] recordings. While renowned for its output of [[African-American]] music, the label was founded by two white siblings and business partners, [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]] and his sister [[Estelle Axton]] (STewart/AXton = Stax).<ref name=danois>{{cite web|last1=Blount Danois|first1=Ericka|title=The Soul of Stax Records|url=http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/the-soul-of-stax/|website=waxpoetics.com|publisher=Wax Poetics Magazine|accessdate=2015-12-23}}</ref> It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's [[house band]], [[Booker T. & 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.<ref name=danois/> |
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Following 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]].<ref name=danois/> 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 a problematic distribution deal with [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Records]], caused the label to slide into [[insolvency]], resulting in its forced closure in late 1975.<ref name=danois/> |
Following 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]].<ref name=danois/> 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 a problematic distribution deal with [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Records]], caused the label to slide into [[insolvency]], resulting in its forced closure in late 1975.<ref name=danois/> |
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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. |
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 the early 1980s, no new material was being issued on the label, and for the next two decades, Stax was strictly a reissue label. |
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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 [[contemporary R&B|R&B]] and soul performers. Atlantic Records continues to hold the rights to the vast majority of the 1959–1968 Stax material.<ref name=danois/> |
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 [[contemporary R&B|R&B]] and soul performers. Atlantic Records continues to hold the rights to the vast majority of the 1959–1968 Stax material.<ref name=danois/> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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===1957–1960: early years as Satellite Records=== |
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[[Image:Staxowax.png|thumbnail|125px|right|The "Stax-o-Wax" logo used during the Atlantic distribution years]] |
[[Image:Staxowax.png|thumbnail|125px|right|The "Stax-o-Wax" logo used during the Atlantic distribution years]] |
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Stax Records, originally named '''Satellite Records''', was founded in Memphis in 1957 by [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]],<ref name="stax50.com">{{cite web | |
Stax Records, originally named '''Satellite Records''', was founded in Memphis in 1957 by [[Jim Stewart (music)|Jim Stewart]],<ref name="stax50.com">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415024644/http://www.stax50.com/history/ |url=http://www.stax50.com/history/ |title=The Soul You Know, The Music You Grew Up On |website=Stax 50 |archive-date=April 15, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526212157/http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/press-media/detail.asp?id=48 |url=http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/press-media/detail.asp?id=48 |archive-date=May 26, 2010 |website=Stax Museum |title=Get ready for some golden soul in 2007 |first=Michael |last=Lollar |date=September 27, 2006}}</ref> 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. |
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In 1958, Stewart's sister [[Estelle Axton]] began her financial interest in the company.<ref name=danois/> Taking a considerable financial risk, she mortgaged her family home to invest {{US$|2500}} (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|2500|1958}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) in the company, enabling Satellite to purchase an [[Ampex]] 350 mono console tape recorder. |
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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 the address. We didn't have any sound equipment or anything else but a small building and a lot of desire."<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records">Kingsley, James. "[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88258754/fate-luck-stewart-combined-for/ Fate, Luck, Stewart Combined for Memphis Sound]". ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', July 26, 1970</ref> |
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In 1958, Stewart's sister [[Estelle Axton]] began her financial interest in the company.<ref name=danois/> Taking a considerable financial risk, she mortgaged her family home to invest $2500 in the company, enabling Satellite to purchase an [[Ampex]] 350 mono console tape recorder. |
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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 a country and pop label for the next year or so. |
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While promoting "Fool in Love |
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 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."<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> In the summer of 1960, Rufus Thomas and his daughter [[Carla Thomas|Carla]] were the first artists to make a recording in this new facility; the record, "Cause I Love You" (credited to Rufus & Carla),<ref name="stax50.com"/> became a substantial regional hit and was picked up for national distribution by [[Atlantic Records]] on its [[Atco Records|Atco]] subsidiary. It went on to sell between thirty and forty thousand copies, becoming Satellite's biggest hit to that time. |
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===1961: name change to Stax and beginning of partnership with Atlantic=== |
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With the success of "Cause I Love You", Stewart made a distribution deal giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite recordings.<ref> |
With the success of "Cause I Love You", Stewart made a distribution deal giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite recordings.<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 12</ref> From this point on, Stewart focused more and more on recording and promoting rhythm and blues acts. Not having really known anything about 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. |
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As part of the deal with Atlantic, Satellite agreed to continue recording Carla Thomas but allowed her recordings to be released on 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. |
As part of the deal with Atlantic, Satellite agreed to continue recording Carla Thomas but allowed her recordings to be released on the Atlantic label. Her first hit, "[[Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)|Gee Whiz]]", was originally issued as Satellite 104, but it was quickly reissued as Atlantic 2086, becoming a hit in early 1961.<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> 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. |
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In June 1961, Satellite signed 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. |
In June 1961, Satellite signed 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. |
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"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 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 |
"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 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.<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tz5YpijuksC&q=satellite+%2B+stax+%2B+%22mar-keys%22&pg=PA758 |title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World - Google Books |access-date=2013-07-13|isbn=9780826463210 |year=2003|publisher=A&C Black }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3iAEAAAAMBAJ&q=1961+%2B+billboard+%2B+satellite+%2B+stax&pg=PA13 |title=Billboard - Google Books |date=1961-09-11 |access-date=2013-07-13}}</ref> |
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===Stax and Volt in ascendancy |
===1962–1964: Stax and Volt in ascendancy=== |
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By 1962, the pieces were in place that allowed Stax to turn from a successful regional label into (alongside [[Motown]] and Atlantic) a national R&B powerhouse.<ref name=danois/> 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, A&R department and house band |
By 1962, the pieces were in place that allowed Stax to turn from a successful regional label into (alongside [[Motown]] and Atlantic) a national R&B powerhouse.<ref name=danois/> 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, [[Artists and repertoire|artist and repertoire]] (A&R) department and house band,<ref name=danois/> which regularly voted with Stewart on which records would be issued on the label.<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> |
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====Record store==== |
====Record store==== |
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While Stewart ran 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 the music that Stax recorded.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE1DB103CF934A15751C0A9629C8B63 | work=The New York Times | title=Estelle Stewart Axton, 85, A Founder of Stax Records | first=Jon | last=Pareles | date=February 27, 2004 | |
While Stewart ran 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 the music that Stax recorded.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE1DB103CF934A15751C0A9629C8B63 | work=The New York Times | title=Estelle Stewart Axton, 85, A Founder of Stax Records | first=Jon | last=Pareles | date=February 27, 2004 | access-date=May 24, 2010}}</ref> 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 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 the young writers and musicians. Booker T. Jones described Estelle as "an inspirer": |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|text=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.<ref name=Gordon214>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |page=214}}</ref>}} |
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====A&R==== |
====A&R==== |
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Original A&R director Chips Moman left 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. |
Original [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] director Chips Moman left 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. |
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====House band==== |
====House band==== |
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In the first few years at Stax, the house band varied, although Cropper, bassist [[Lewie Steinberg]], |
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. |
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By 1962, multi-instrumentalist [[Booker T. Jones]] 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 |
By 1962, multi-instrumentalist [[Booker T. Jones]] 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.<ref name=danois/> Dunn eventually became 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. |
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Other members of the house band included horn players Andrew Love 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 (musician)|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 the label's output from about 1963 through 1969. |
Other members of 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 (musician)|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 the label's output from about 1963 through 1969. |
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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 |
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]].<ref name=danois/> 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 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 arrangement]]s, in which none of the musicians' parts were written down and nothing was worked out in advance.<ref name=Gordon214 /> |
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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 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 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: |
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 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 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: |
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{{ |
{{blockquote|text=Memphis was a real departure, because Memphis was a return to head arrangements, to 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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=79–82}}</ref>}} |
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====Stax studio==== |
===={{Anchor|Stax studio}} Stax studio==== |
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Another important factor in Stax's success was the studio itself. The recording studio, located at 926 E McLemore Ave |
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 was audible on recordings, often giving them a big, deep yet raw sound. Soul music historian [[Rob Bowman (music writer)|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 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 the studio further with a four-track recorder.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |page=82}}</ref> |
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====Early successes==== |
====Early successes==== |
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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 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, Chalice (a [[gospel music|gospel]] label), Hip, and |
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 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 music|gospel]] label), Hip, Safice, Magic Touch, and Arch. |
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Redding's first single, "These Arms of Mine |
Redding's first single, "These Arms of Mine", issued in October 1962, hit both the R&B and the pop charts. Though the label had enjoyed some early hits with the [[The Mar-Keys|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.) |
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Between January 1962 and December 1964, Stax and Volt released several chart hits each by Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Booker T. and 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. |
Between January 1962 and December 1964, Stax and Volt released several chart hits each by Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Booker T. and 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. |
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Beginning in 1965, when the label |
Beginning in 1965, when the label formalized its distribution agreement with Atlantic, Stax/Volt artists made the charts much more frequently.<ref name=danois/> |
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===Stax/Volt's continued success |
===1965–1967: Stax/Volt's continued success=== |
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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.<ref name=danois/> Carla Thomas also formally rejoined the Stax label in 1965. Perhaps more importantly for the label's fortunes, the songwriting team of [[Isaac Hayes]] and [[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] began to establish themselves as Stax's new team of hit writer/producers.<ref name=danois/> 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 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.<ref name=danois/> Carla Thomas also formally rejoined the Stax label in 1965. Perhaps more importantly for the label's fortunes, the songwriting team of [[Isaac Hayes]] and [[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] began to establish themselves as Stax's new team of hit writer/producers.<ref name=danois/> 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. |
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In addition to hits by stalwarts Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and Carla Thomas, 1965 saw the chart debuts of Stax artists |
In addition to hits by stalwarts Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and Carla Thomas, 1965 saw the chart debuts of Stax artists the Astors and [[Sam & Dave]] plus Volt artists the [[The Mad Lads|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. |
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[[Image:hiphugher.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Hip Hug-Her]]'', by Booker T. & the MG's (1967), showing the two different Atlantic-era Stax logos]] |
[[Image:hiphugher.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Hip Hug-Her]]'', by Booker T. & the MG's (1967), showing the two different Atlantic-era Stax logos]] |
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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 the Midnight Hour]] |
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 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EREEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22wilson+pickett%22+%2B+wexler+%2B+stax&pg=PA6 |title=Billboard - Google Books |date=1966-08-20 |access-date=2013-07-13}}</ref> 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 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 $100 each (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100|1965}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}) to complete 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 was sent to Rick Hall's [[FAME Studios|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 Sound Studio|American Group Productions]], Chips Moman's Memphis studio. |
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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 (singer)|William Bell]], Booker T. & the M.G.'s, [[Eddie Floyd]], the [[The Bar-Kays|Bar-Kays]], [[Albert King]], and the Mad Lads.<ref name=danois/> |
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 (singer)|William Bell]], Booker T. & the M.G.'s, [[Eddie Floyd]], the [[The Bar-Kays|Bar-Kays]], [[Albert King]], and the Mad Lads.<ref name=danois/> In 1966, Floyd recorded a tune named "[[Knock on Wood (Eddie Floyd song)|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.<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> |
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Unlike Motown, which frequently packaged its artists on review tours, Stax only infrequently sponsored concerts to promote its acts. The first of such concerts 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 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'. |
Unlike Motown, which frequently packaged its artists on review tours, Stax only infrequently sponsored concerts to promote its acts. The first of such concerts 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 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''. |
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[[ |
[[File:Stax Records, Memphis, TN, US (30).jpg|thumb|The [[Stax Museum]] on McLemore Avenue in Memphis, founded in 2003, is a replica of the Stax studio, built on the same site where many of the historic Stax recording sessions took place. The original Stax studio was demolished in 1989.]] |
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In 1967 Stax was at the height of its fame.<ref name=danois/> 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 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.<ref name=danois/> |
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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 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.<ref name=danois/> 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 a week. 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 the Big Six to pay them for their production duties with the artists they backed.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=141–142}}</ref> |
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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 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.<ref name=danois/> 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 $125 a week (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|125|1966}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}). 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 the Big Six to pay them for their production duties with the artists they backed.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=141–142}}</ref> |
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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.<ref name=danois/> Whilst 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 got into 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. |
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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.<ref name=danois/> 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 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. |
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Although the trip was a huge success for 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 the Stax rhythm section as salaried Stax employees.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=151–152}}</ref> |
Although the trip was a huge success for 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 the Stax rhythm section as salaried Stax employees.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=151–152}}</ref> |
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=== |
===1968: break with Atlantic Records=== |
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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 |
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 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. |
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Unhappy with either offer, Stewart then asked for the return of the Stax masters, but the executives at Warner-Seven Arts refused. It was then that he was informed that Atlantic's |
Unhappy with either offer, Stewart then asked for 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.<ref name="Atlantic Records Story">{{cite web |author1=David Edwards |author2=Mike Callahan |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/atlantic/atlanticstory.html |title=The Atlantic Records Story |website=Both Sides Now Publications |date=February 20, 2000}}</ref><ref name=danois/> Only its unreleased recordings remained 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]].<ref name=danois/> |
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Stewart regarded his original deal with Wexler as a gentleman's agreement, and when the distribution arrangement was |
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.<ref name=danois/> Stewart 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,<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=174–176}}</ref> and Wexler resented the situation in his 1993 autobiography ''Rhythm and the Blues'': |
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{{cquote|There was no righting this wrong, Jim was screwed, and I feel bad about it to this day.<ref name="Atlantic Records Story"/>}} |
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As a result of this turn of events, Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=pwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=%22separate+tables%22%2B+atlantic+%2B#v=onepage&q=%22separate%20tables%22%2B%20atlantic%20%2B&f=false |title=Billboard - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1968-05-11 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> and instead sold Stax a week after it expired in May 1968 to [[Paramount Pictures]] (who also owned [[Dot Records]]), a unit of [[Gulf+Western]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=pwgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=stax+%2B+paramount#v=onepage&q=stax%20%2B%20paramount&f=false |title=Billboard - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1968-05-18 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> 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).<ref name="docu" /> The company 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 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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=181–182}}</ref> |
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As a result of this turn of events, Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwoEAAAAMBAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwoEAAAAMBAJ/page/n72 3] |quote=separate tables+ atlantic +. |title=Billboard |via=[[Internet Archive]] |date=1968-05-11 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> and, on May 13, 1968, he instead sold Stax to [[Paramount Pictures]], a unit of [[Gulf+Western]]; the sale brought it into direct co-ownership with [[Dot Records]], a pop label Paramount had owned since 1957.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwgEAAAAMBAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwgEAAAAMBAJ/page/n10 3] |quote=stax + paramount. |title=Billboard |via=[[Internet Archive]] |date=1968-05-18 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref><ref>Kingsley, James. "[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88258412/ Key Officers Remain On Job As Stax-Volt Is Purchased]". ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', May 14, 1968</ref><ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> 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).<ref name="docu" /> The company 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 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.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Gordon |title=Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |year=2013 |pages=181–182}}</ref> |
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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.<ref name=danois/> Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for 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.<ref name="docu">{{cite video | people = Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon, and Mark Crosby [directors, writers, producers] | title = Great Performances - Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story | medium = TV documentary | publisher = Tremolo Productions, [[Concord Music Group]], Thirteen/WNET New York | location = [[New York City]] |date = 2007 }}</ref> By 1970, she had sold her shares and would later go on to found Fretone Records, which had a major success in 1977 with "[[Disco Duck]]".<ref name="EAxtonObit">{{cite web | url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-02-25-estelle-axton_x.htm | title=Stax Records co-founder Estelle Axton dies | work=USA Today | date=25 February 2004 | accessdate=27 July 2014 | author=Associated Press}}</ref> |
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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.<ref name=danois/> Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for 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.<ref name="docu">{{cite video | people = Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon, and Mark Crosby [directors, writers, producers] | title = Great Performances - Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story | medium = TV documentary | publisher = Tremolo Productions, [[Concord Music Group]], Thirteen/WNET New York | location = [[New York City]] |date = 2007 }}</ref> 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]]".<ref name="EAxtonObit">{{cite news | url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-02-25-estelle-axton_x.htm | title=Stax Records co-founder Estelle Axton dies | work=USA Today | date=25 February 2004 | access-date=27 July 2014 | agency=Associated Press}}</ref> |
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After the Atlantic distribution deal expired in May 1968, Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=pwoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=stax+%2B+atlantic#v=onepage&q=stax%20%2B%20atlantic&f=false |title=Billboard - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1968-05-11 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> 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 the record distributors. |
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After the Atlantic distribution deal expired in May 1968, Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwoEAAAAMBAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_pwoEAAAAMBAJ/page/n72 3] |quote=stax + atlantic. |title=Billboard |via=[[Internet Archive]] |date=1968-05-11 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> 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 the record distributors. |
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===Stax as an independent label (1968–1972)=== |
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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.<ref name="docu" /> To begin rebuilding its catalog, Stax, under orders from Al Bell, released a whopping 27 albums<ref name=danois/> (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.<ref name="docu" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxb.html |title= Stax Album Discography, Part 2 (1968-1972) |last1=Callahan |first1=Mike |first2=David |last2=Edwards |date=July 18, 1999 |publisher=Both Sides Now Publications |accessdate=March 26, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name=danois/> By 1971, Hayes was established as the label's biggest star and was particularly noted for [[Shaft (album)|his best-selling soundtrack]] to the 1971 [[blaxploitation]] film ''[[Shaft (1971 film)|Shaft]]''.<ref name="docu" /> Hayes' recordings were among the releases on a third major Stax label, Enterprise, which had been founded in 1967. |
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===1968–1972: Stax as an independent label=== |
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The label also enjoyed great success when it had the [[Staple Singers]] shift from [[Gospel music]] to mainstream R&B.<ref name="docu" /> 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 Grammaphon, the European record company owned at the time by the giant Philips corporation. Stax subsisted on its own for the next two years, using independent distributors. By mid-1971, the Stax logo was slightly altered in which the color of the finger-snapping hand was changed from blue to brown. |
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{{quote box|quote=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|"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 the Stax singers never try to embody abject lust.|source=—[[Robert Christgau]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' (1969)<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=June 22, 1969|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/news/stax-69.php|title=Wholly and Solely About Soul|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 21, 2019}}</ref>|width=21%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}} |
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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.<ref name="docu" /> To begin rebuilding its catalog, Stax, under orders from Al Bell, released a whopping 27 albums<ref name=danois/> (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.<ref name="docu" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxb.html |title= Stax Album Discography, Part 2 (1968-1972) |last1=Callahan |first1=Mike |first2=David |last2=Edwards |date=July 18, 1999 |publisher=Both Sides Now Publications |access-date=March 26, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref name=danois/> By 1971, Hayes was established as the label's biggest star and was particularly noted for [[Shaft (Isaac Hayes album)|his best-selling soundtrack]] to the 1971 [[blaxploitation]] film ''[[Shaft (1971 film)|Shaft]]''.<ref name="docu" /> Hayes' recordings were among the releases on a third major Stax label, Enterprise, which had been founded in 1967. |
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As co-owner, Bell undertook an ambitious program to make Stax not only a major recording company, but also a prominent force in the black community. He began signing many more artists to the label, [[Frederick Knight (singer)|Frederick Knight]] and [[The Soul Children]] among them. For the first time, many of the label's acts began frequently recording at outside studios (such as [[Ardent Studios]] in Memphis and at recording studios in [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama]]) and working with outside producers, signaling an end of the signature Stax sound. Bell even created a comedy subsidiary label, [[Partee Records]], which released albums from the likes of [[Richard Pryor]]<ref name=danois/> and [[Moms Mabley]]; and he made a bid for the white pop market by signing [[Big Star (band)|Big Star]] and licensing albums by [[Terry Manning]], the UK progressive rock band [[Skin Alley]], and [[Lena Zavaroni]]. In addition, Bell became heavily involved with various causes in the African-American community, and was a close friend of the [[Reverend]] [[Jesse Jackson]] and a financial supporter of his [[Operation PUSH]]. |
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The label also enjoyed great success when it had the [[Staple Singers]] make a dramatic shift from [[Gospel music]] to mainstream R&B.<ref name="docu" /> Al Bell began signing many more artists such as the Dramatics, [[Frederick Knight (singer)|Frederick Knight]] and [[The Soul Children]].<ref>[http://www.soulexpress.net/soulchildren.htm The Soul Children] SoulExpress.net. retrieved 08 October 2021</ref> 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]], 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.<ref name="Local Newspaper Report on Stax Records"/> |
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On August 20, 1972, the Stax label presented a major concert, ''[[Wattstax]]'', featured performances by Stax recording artists and humor from rising young comedian Richard Pryor.<ref name=danois/> Known as the "Black [[Woodstock]]," Wattstax was hosted by Reverend [[Jesse Jackson]] and drew a crowd of over 100,000 people, most of them African-American.<ref name=danois/> ''Wattstax'' was filmed by motion picture director [[Mel Stuart]] (''[[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory]]''), and a concert film of the event was released to theaters by [[Columbia Pictures]] in February 1973. |
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By the fall of 1970, both Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones were frustrated with Stax's treatment of 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."<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 186</ref> A final Booker T. and the MGs album was issued in 1971. |
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By this time, the Stax recording studio was accepting outside work again. In July and December 1973, [[Elvis Presley]] recorded three albums at Stax: ''[[Raised on Rock / For Ol' Times Sake|Raised on Rock]]'', ''[[Good Times (Elvis Presley album)|Good Times]]'', and ''[[Promised Land (Elvis Presley album)|Promised Land]]'', which produced four top 20 hits for [[RCA Records|RCA]], the label to which Elvis had been signed since 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=1178 |title=Events in Memphis - Elvis Presley News - Memphis, Tennessee |publisher=Elvis.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> |
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The two remaining MGs (Duck Dunn and Al Jackson) stayed on at Stax, working as session musicians on various Stax recordings, although they also worked elsewhere. In particular, Al Jackson worked extensively with [[Al Green]] at crosstown rival [[Hi Records]], co-writing a number of Green's hits between 1971 and 1975. |
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===Decline and bankruptcy (1972–1975)=== |
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Despite the success of Wattstax, the future of Stax was unstable. In 1972, Bell bought out Stewart's remaining interest in the company, and established a distribution deal with [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Records]].<ref name=danois/> CBS Records President [[Clive Davis]] saw Stax as a means for CBS to fully break into the African-American market and successfully compete with Motown.<ref name=danois/> Bell had originally proposed that CBS buy 50% of the company, but Davis discussed it with CBS's corporate attorneys, who saw anti-trust problems, so a national distribution deal was worked out instead. However, Davis was fired by the company shortly after signing the Stax distribution deal<ref name=danois/> because of reports that he used funds from CBS for personal expenditures, including the expensive [[bar mitzvah]] of his son. (Davis, for his part, continues to insist that the "official" reason for his firing was only a convenient excuse and that, in reality, his quick ouster was a matter of personality conflict.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/clive-davis |title=Clive Davis: Information from |publisher=Answers.com |date= |accessdate=2010-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |coauthors= |title=Changes Made in CBS Guard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0igEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=%22cbs+records%22+%2B+lieberson+%2B+1966&hl=en&ei=kNooTKC1K8yHnQfe6umoAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false |quote= |newspaper=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=June 18, 1966 |accessdate=2012-08-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |coauthors= |title=Let CBS Tell Its Own Ugly Story |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NshHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kv8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=944,2963654&dq=clive+davis+cbs+records&hl=en |quote=Beginning what may be the second most massive cover-up of the past months, CBS fired its records division president, Clive Davis ... |newspaper=[[New York Times]] News Service |date=June 22, 1973 |accessdate=2012-08-23 }}</ref> Without Davis at the helm, CBS very quickly lost interest in Stax.<ref name=danois/> |
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Stax, meanwhile, subsisted on its own between 1970 and 1972, using independent distributors. By mid-1971, the Stax logo was slightly altered in which the color of the finger-snapping hand was changed from blue to brown. |
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The deal was altered by having the Stax labels' profits cut by up to 40%, particularly since the CBS distribution agents bypassed the traditional small mom-and-pop record sellers in the black community which had been the backbone of Stax's distribution, and weren't pushing the Stax product to the larger retailers for fear of undercutting rack space for CBS R&B artists such as [[Earth Wind and Fire]], the [[The Isley Brothers|Isley Brothers]], and [[Sly & the Family Stone]]. Reports came in to Stax of stores in cities such as [[Chicago]] and [[Detroit]] being unable to get new Stax records despite consumer demands, and the company attempted to annul its distribution deal with CBS.<ref name=danois/> However, although CBS was uninterested in fully promoting Stax, it refused to release the label from its contract,<ref name=danois/> for fear that Stax would land a more productive deal with another company and then become CBS's direct competitor. |
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As co-owner, Bell undertook an ambitious program to make Stax not only a major recording company, but also a prominent force in the black community. For the first time, many of the label's acts began frequently recording at outside studios (such as [[Ardent Studios]] in Memphis and at recording studios in [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama]]) and working with outside producers, signaling an end of the signature Stax sound. Bell even created a comedy subsidiary label, [[Partee Records]], which released albums from the likes of [[Richard Pryor]]<ref name=danois/> and [[Moms Mabley]]; and he made a bid for the white pop market by signing [[Big Star (band)|Big Star]] and licensing albums by [[Terry Manning]], the UK progressive rock band [[Skin Alley]], and [[Lena Zavaroni]]. In addition, Bell became heavily involved with various causes in the African-American community, and was a close friend of the [[Reverend]] [[Jesse Jackson]] and a financial supporter of his [[Operation PUSH]]. |
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The last big chart hit for Stax was "[[Woman to Woman (Shirley Brown song)|Woman to Woman]]" from [[Shirley Brown]] in 1974, and the single's success helped delay the inevitable demise of the company for several months. By 1975, all of the secondary Stax labels had folded, with only the main Stax label remaining. Stax had signed artists like [[Joyce Cobb]] bringing her over from their Truth country music label that year but were never able to produce recordings with her and other new talent. Al Bell attempted to stave off bankruptcy with bank loans from Memphis' [[Union Planters Bank]].<ref name=danois/> Jim Stewart, unwilling to see the company die, returned to active participation in Stax and mortgaged his Memphis mansion to provide the label with short-term [[working capital]]. However, the Union Planters bank officers soon got cold feet, and foreclosed on the loans, costing Stewart his home and fortune. In the 2014 documentary ''Take Me To The River'', Bell states unequivocally that the city's white power structure loathed the presence of such a successful black-owned company and was determined to destroy it by any means necessary, using the bank loans as an excuse.<ref name=danois/> The fact that Bell was subsequently acquitted of the fourteen-count indictment of defrauding Union Planters bank for $1.8 million would seem to lend credence to his side of the story.<ref name=danois/> |
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On August 20, 1972, the Stax label presented a major concert, [[Wattstax]], featured performances by Stax recording artists and humor from rising young comedian Richard Pryor.<ref name=danois/> Known as the "Black [[Woodstock]]", Wattstax was hosted by Reverend [[Jesse Jackson]] and drew a crowd of over 100,000 people, most of them African-American.<ref name=danois/> Wattstax was filmed by motion picture director [[Mel Stuart]] (''[[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory]]''), and a concert film of the event was released to theaters by [[Columbia Pictures]] in February 1973. |
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Stax/Volt Records was forced into involuntary [[Chapter 11]] [[bankruptcy]] on December 19, 1975<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 370</ref> and was closed by order of a bankruptcy judge on January 12, 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxvolt.html |title=Stax/Volt Story |first1=Mike |last1=Callahan |first2=David |last2=Edwards |publisher=Both Sides Now Publications |date=July 18, 1999 |accessdate=July 6, 2014}}</ref> Stax Engineer and Producer [[Terry Manning]] was the last employee to walk out of the doors. |
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By this time, the Stax recording studio was accepting outside work again. In July and December 1973, [[Elvis Presley]] recorded three albums at Stax: ''[[Raised on Rock / For Ol' Times Sake|Raised on Rock]]'', ''[[Good Times (Elvis Presley album)|Good Times]]'', and ''[[Promised Land (Elvis Presley album)|Promised Land]]'', which produced four top 20 hits for [[RCA Records|RCA]], the label to which Elvis had been signed since 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=1178 |title=Events in Memphis - Elvis Presley News - Memphis, Tennessee |publisher=Elvis.com |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> |
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===Stax in limbo (1976–1977)=== |
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Al Bell was arrested and indicted for [[bank fraud]] during the Stax bankruptcy proceedings, but was acquitted of those charges in August 1976.<ref name=danois/> In early 1977, Union Planters sold Stax, its master tapes, and its publishing arms for about four million dollars to a holding corporation.<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 382-384</ref> This corporation then sold the Stax-owned master recordings, as well as the name "Stax Records," to [[Fantasy Records]] later that same year.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=4yMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=stax+%2B+fantasy#v=onepage&q=stax%20%2B%20fantasy&f=false |title=Billboard - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1977-06-25 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> |
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===1972–1975: decline and bankruptcy=== |
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Despite the success of Wattstax, the future of Stax was unstable. In 1972, Bell bought out Stewart's remaining interest in the company, and established a distribution deal with [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Records]].<ref name=danois/> CBS Records President [[Clive Davis]] saw Stax as a means for CBS to fully break into the African-American market and successfully compete with Motown.<ref name=danois/> Bell had originally proposed that CBS buy 50% of the company, but Davis discussed it with CBS's corporate attorneys, who saw anti-trust problems, so a national distribution deal was worked out instead. However, Davis was fired by the company shortly after signing the Stax distribution deal<ref name=danois/> because of reports that he used funds from CBS for personal expenditures, including an expensive [[bar mitzvah]] of his son. (Davis, for his part, continues to insist that the "official" reason for his firing was only a convenient excuse and that, in reality, his quick ouster was a matter of personality conflict.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/clive-davis |title=Clive Davis: Information from |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=2010-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Changes Made in CBS Guard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0igEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22cbs+records%22+%2B+lieberson+%2B+1966&pg=PA10 |newspaper=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=June 18, 1966 |access-date=2012-08-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Let CBS Tell Its Own Ugly Story |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NshHAAAAIBAJ&pg=944,2963654&dq=clive+davis+cbs+records&hl=en |quote=Beginning what may be the second most massive cover-up of the past months, CBS fired its records division president, Clive Davis ... |newspaper=[[New York Times]] News Service |date=June 22, 1973 |access-date=2012-08-23 }}</ref> Without Davis at the helm, CBS very quickly lost interest in Stax.<ref name=danois/> |
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The deal was altered by having the Stax labels' profits cut by up to 40%, particularly since the CBS distribution agents bypassed the traditional small mom-and-pop record sellers in the black community which had been the backbone of Stax's distribution, and weren't pushing the Stax product to the larger retailers for fear of undercutting rack space for CBS R&B artists such as [[Earth Wind and Fire]], the [[The Isley Brothers|Isley Brothers]], and [[Sly & the Family Stone]]; additionally, CBS reportedly displayed a greater level of favoritism toward [[Philadelphia International Records]], which was distributed by CBS and had become a formidable competitor of Stax and Motown combined.<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 317</ref> Reports came in to Stax of stores in cities such as [[Chicago]] and [[Detroit]] being unable to get new Stax records despite consumer demands, and the company attempted to annul its distribution deal with CBS.<ref name=danois/> However, although CBS was uninterested in fully promoting Stax, it refused to release the label from its contract,<ref name=danois/> for fear that Stax would land a more productive deal with another company and then become CBS's direct competitor. |
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The last big chart hit for Stax was "[[Woman to Woman (Shirley Brown song)|Woman to Woman]]" in 1974 from [[Shirley Brown]], which appeared on subsidiary label, Truth, handled by independent distributors. The single's success helped delay the inevitable demise of the company for several months. By 1975, all of the secondary Stax labels had folded, with only the main Stax label and Truth remaining. Stax had signed artists like [[Joyce Cobb]] bringing her over from their Truth country music label that year, but were never able to produce recordings with her and other new talent. Truth was able to release a couple of other singles and an album by Shirley Brown. |
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Al Bell attempted to stave off bankruptcy with bank loans from Memphis' [[Union Planters Bank]].<ref name=danois/> Jim Stewart, unwilling to see the company die, returned to active participation in Stax and mortgaged his Memphis mansion to provide the label with short-term [[working capital]]. However, the Union Planters bank officers soon got cold feet, and foreclosed on the loans, costing Stewart his home and fortune. In the 2014 documentary ''[[Take Me to the River (2014 film)|Take Me To The River]]'', Bell states unequivocally that the city's white power structure loathed the presence of such a successful black-owned company and was determined to destroy it by any means necessary, using the bank loans as an excuse.<ref name=danois/> |
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Stax/Volt Records was forced into involuntary [[bankruptcy]] on December 19, 1975<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88360776/stax-files-for-bankruptcy-local-report/ Stax Creditors File Bankruptcy Petition]". ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', December 20, 1975</ref><ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 370</ref> and was closed by order of federal bankruptcy judge William B. Leffler on January 12, 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxvolt.html |title=Stax/Volt Story |first1=Mike |last1=Callahan |first2=David |last2=Edwards |publisher=Both Sides Now Publications |date=July 18, 1999 |access-date=July 6, 2014}}</ref><ref>Lollar, Michael. "[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88361066/stax-ordered-to-close-local-report/ Stax Ordered To Shut Down]". ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', January 13, 1976.</ref> Three days before the bankruptcy proceedings, Union Planters intended to produce a memorial record album for [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] in which the proceeds would go toward allowing Stax to continue operation.<ref>Lollar, Michael. "[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88361143/bank-plans-first-album-to-aid-stax/ Bank Plans First Album to Aid Stax]". ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', December 17, 1975.</ref> |
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===1976–1977: Stax in limbo=== |
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Al Bell was arrested and indicted for [[bank fraud]] during the Stax bankruptcy proceedings, but was acquitted of those charges in August 1976.<ref name=danois/> In early 1977, Union Planters sold Stax, its master tapes, and its publishing arms for about four million dollars to a holding corporation.<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 382-384</ref> This corporation then sold the Stax-owned master recordings, as well as the name "Stax Records", to [[Fantasy Records]] later that same year.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yMEAAAAMBAJ&q=stax+%2B+fantasy&pg=PP1 |title=Billboard - Google Books |date=1977-06-25 |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> |
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Effectively, that meant that Fantasy owned and controlled all Stax material recorded after May 1968 and the handful of pre-May 1968 Stax singles and albums Atlantic initially declined to distribute nationally in the 1960s (none of which were hits). Fantasy also gained control and ownership of all unreleased tracks and alternate takes of Stax recordings, including those recorded before May 1968, and gained the right to issue new recordings under the Stax Records banner. |
Effectively, that meant that Fantasy owned and controlled all Stax material recorded after May 1968 and the handful of pre-May 1968 Stax singles and albums Atlantic initially declined to distribute nationally in the 1960s (none of which were hits). Fantasy also gained control and ownership of all unreleased tracks and alternate takes of Stax recordings, including those recorded before May 1968, and gained the right to issue new recordings under the Stax Records banner. |
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Stax's one-time McLemore Ave. headquarters were not sold until 1981, when Union Planters deeded it to the Southside Church of God in Christ for ten dollars.<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 385</ref> |
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[[Almo/Irving Music]], the music publishing partner of [[A&M Records]], acquired East Memphis Music, Stax's publishing arm, in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.onamrecords.com/music-company/rondor-music-international/146449/history|title=Rondor Music International History|first=Leslie J.|last=Pfenninger|website=Onamrecords.com|access-date=13 October 2023}}</ref> |
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===1978–1981: Stax resumes operations=== |
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In October 1977, Fantasy announced it would set up a Memphis office primarily for the purposes of reviving the Stax label, with local promoter Bruce Bowles being hired as Fantasy's regional promotion and marketing manager.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88411508/stax-label-is-revived-by-fantasy/ Stax Label is Revived by Fantasy]", ''[[The Commercial Appeal]]'', October 23, 1977</ref> The next month, Fantasy appointed long-time Stax writer and producer [[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] to head up a revived version of the Stax label, which was relaunched in January 1978.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VL8DAAAAMBAJ&q=Stax+Records&pg=PA65 |title=Jet - Google Books |date=1978-01-19 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> Porter signed several new acts to Stax, including [[Fat Larry's Band]], [[Rick Dees]] and Sho Nuff, and re-signed mid-1970s Stax acts [[Rance Allen]], [[Soul Children]] and [[Shirley Brown]]. Porter was also responsible for overseeing compilations of previously unissued material by [[Isaac Hayes]], [[Randy Brown (musician)|Randy Brown]], the [[The Bar-Kays|Bar-Kays]], [[Albert King]] and the [[The Emotions|Emotions]]. |
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This iteration of Stax released over two dozen singles, including nine that made the US R&B charts. By far the biggest hit of this era was the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost", a #9 R&B hit in 1978; it was a remixed and over-dubbed version of a track the band had recorded for Stax in 1975. |
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===Stax resumes operations (1978–1981)=== |
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In November 1977, Fantasy appointed long-time Stax writer and producer [[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] to head up a revived version of the Stax label, which was relaunched in January 1978.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VL8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65&dq=Stax+Records&cd=10#v=onepage&q=Stax%20Records&f=false |title=Jet - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date=1978-01-19 |accessdate=2011-10-19}}</ref> Porter signed several new acts to Stax, including [[Fat Larry's Band]], [[Rick Dees]] and Sho Nuff, and re-signed mid-1970s Stax acts [[Rance Allen]], [[Soul Children]] and [[Shirley Brown]]. Porter was also responsible for overseeing compilations of previously unissued material by [[Isaac Hayes]], [[Randy Brown (musician)|Randy Brown]], the [[The Bar-Kays|Bar-Kays]], [[Albert King]] and the [[The Emotions|Emotions]]. |
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Fantasy had to make do, however, without many of the well-known acts on Stax, who moved on to other labels during the bankruptcy proceedings and were enjoying a string of hits at their new homes, including the Bar-Kays (on [[Mercury Records|Mercury]]), Johnnie Taylor (on [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], where he had the nation's first [[RIAA]]-certified [[Music recording certification|Platinum]] single in "[[Disco Lady]]"),<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070701162808/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=historyx |archivedate= July 1, 2007|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=historyx |title=History Of The Awards |website=Riaa.com |access-date=2008-12-11}}</ref> Isaac Hayes (on Polydor), the Staple Singers, Richard Pryor (both on [[Warner Records|Warner Bros.]]), the Dramatics (on [[ABC Records|ABC]]), Shirley Brown (on [[Arista Records|Arista]]), and the Emotions (on Columbia, and later on [[American Record Corporation|ARC]] after their new producer [[Maurice White]] relaunched it as a vehicle for his productions). |
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This iteration of Stax released over two dozen singles, including nine that made the US R&B charts. By far the biggest hit of this era was the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost", a #9 R&B hit in 1978; it was a remixed and over-dubbed version of a track the band had recorded for Stax in 1975. (By 1978, the Bar-Kays were long gone from Stax and were enjoying a string of hits on [[Mercury Records]].) |
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Porter left Stax in 1979, and the label's new releases slowed to a trickle. By late 1981, Stax was strictly in the business of reissuing material recorded between 1968 through 1975 and previously unreleased archival material from the 1960s and 1970s. |
Porter left Stax in 1979, and the label's new releases slowed to a trickle. By late 1981, Stax was strictly in the business of reissuing material recorded between 1968 through 1975 and previously unreleased archival material from the 1960s and 1970s. |
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===Stax as a reissue label |
===1982–2003: Stax as a reissue label=== |
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{{unreferenced section|date=January 2012}} |
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2012}} |
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Through much of the 1980s and 1990s, Stax activities focused exclusively on re-issues. |
Through much of the 1980s and 1990s, Stax activities focused exclusively on re-issues. Because Atlantic owned (and still owns) most of the Atlantic-era Stax master recordings released up to May 1968, the Atlantic-controlled material has been reissued by co-owned [[Rhino Records]] or licensed to [[Collectables Records]]. |
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Fantasy, meanwhile, also repackaged and re-released the Stax catalogue it controlled, on the Stax label. |
Fantasy, meanwhile, also repackaged and re-released the Stax catalogue it controlled, on the Stax label. Because Fantasy owned the non-master recordings of all Stax material, for several of its Stax compilations, Fantasy issued alternate takes of the Stax hit recordings in place of the master recordings owned by Atlantic. |
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In 1988, Fantasy issued the various artists album ''Top of the Stax, Vol. 1: Twenty Greatest Hits''. |
In 1988, Fantasy issued the various artists album ''Top of the Stax, Vol. 1: Twenty Greatest Hits''. This marked the first time an album was issued with both Atlantic-owned and Fantasy-owned Stax material; it was issued by arrangement with Atlantic Records. A second volume was released by Fantasy in 1991. |
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In 1991, Atlantic issued ''The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959–1968'', a nine-disc [[compact disc]] [[boxed set]] containing all of the Atlantic-era Stax a-sides. This release earned [[Grammy Award]] nominations for producer [[Steve Greenberg (record producer)|Steve Greenberg]] in the Best Historical Album category and for writer Rob Bowman in the Best Album Notes category. The boxed set was certified gold in 2001, the largest collection of CDs ever to have earned that certification. Fantasy followed their lead and issued volumes two and three of the ''Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles'' series in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Volume Two compiles the Stax/Volt singles from 1968 to 1971, while Volume Three completes the collection with the singles issued from 1972 to 1975. Volume Three earned a Best Album Notes [[Grammy Award]] for Rob Bowman. In 2000, Fantasy issued a boxed set titled ''The Stax Story'', which includes pre-1968 material by arrangement with Atlantic. |
In 1991, Atlantic issued ''The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959–1968'', a nine-disc [[compact disc]] [[boxed set]] containing all of the Atlantic-era Stax a-sides. This release earned [[Grammy Award]] nominations for producer [[Steve Greenberg (record producer)|Steve Greenberg]] in the Best Historical Album category and for writer Rob Bowman in the Best Album Notes category. The boxed set was certified gold in 2001, the largest collection of CDs ever to have earned that certification. Fantasy followed their lead and issued volumes two and three of the ''Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles'' series in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Volume Two compiles the Stax/Volt singles from 1968 to 1971, while Volume Three completes the collection with the singles issued from 1972 to 1975. Volume Three earned a Best Album Notes [[Grammy Award]] for Rob Bowman. In 2000, Fantasy issued a boxed set titled ''The Stax Story'', which includes pre-1968 material by arrangement with Atlantic. |
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Fantasy tried to revive Stax's sister label Volt Records twice during this time, first in the late 1980s and again in the late 1990s. |
Fantasy tried to revive Stax's sister label Volt Records twice during this time, first in the late 1980s and again in the late 1990s. |
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===Stax Museum and revival of the label |
===2003–present: Stax Museum and revival of the label=== |
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[[File:Stax Records, TN historical maker.jpg|thumb|right| Tennessee Historical Commission marker at the original site of Stax Records, now the site of the Stax campus.]] |
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After a decade of neglect, the Southside Church of God in Christ tore down the original Stax studio in 1989.<ref name=danois/> Over a decade later the [[Stax Museum|Stax Museum of American Soul Music]] was constructed at the site and opened in 2003. A replica of the original building, the Stax Museum features exhibits on the history of Stax and soul music in general, and hosts various music-related community programs and events. |
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After a decade of neglect, the Southside Church of God in Christ tore down the original Stax studio in 1989.<ref name=danois/> Over a decade later the [[Stax Museum|Stax Museum of American Soul Music]] operated by the non-profit, Soulsville Foundation, was constructed at the site and opened in 2003. A replica of the original building, the Stax Museum features exhibits on the history of Stax and soul music in general, and hosts various music-related community programs and events. The Soulsville Foundation also operates the Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School, all part of the same campus where the original Stax Records was created. |
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[[Concord Records]] purchased the Fantasy Label Group in 2004, and in December 2006 announced the reactivation of the Stax label as a forum for newly recorded music. |
[[Concord Records]] purchased the Fantasy Label Group in 2004, and in December 2006 announced the reactivation of the Stax label as a forum for newly recorded music. The first acts signed to the new Stax included [[Isaac Hayes]], [[Angie Stone]], and [[Soulive]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=11993 |title=Concord Music Reactivates Stax Records |publisher=Allaboutjazz.com |access-date=2011-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100712113959/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=11993 |archive-date=2010-07-12}}</ref> |
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The formal relaunch came with the release on March 13, 2007 of ''Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration'', a 2-CD box set containing 50 tracks from the entire history of Stax Records.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4432 |title=Labels |
The formal relaunch came with the release on March 13, 2007 of ''Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration'', a 2-CD box set containing 50 tracks from the entire history of Stax Records.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4432 |title=Labels |publisher=Concord Music Group |access-date=2011-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216103323/http://www2.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4432 |archive-date=2011-12-16}}</ref> |
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The first Concord-distributed Stax album of all-new material was a various artists CD which was released on March 27, 2007 and titled ''Interpretations: Celebrating The Music of Earth, Wind & Fire''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4415 |title=Labels |
The first Concord-distributed Stax album of all-new material was a various artists CD which was released on March 27, 2007 and titled ''Interpretations: Celebrating The Music of Earth, Wind & Fire''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4415 |title=Labels |publisher=Concord Music Group |access-date=2011-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216111851/http://www2.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/album/?id=4415 |archive-date=2011-12-16}}</ref> Soulive was the first artist on revived label to release an album of all-new material with ''[[No Place Like Soul]]'' released July 10, 2007. |
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On August 28, 2007, a 3 CD Deluxe Edition box set of the 1972 music event [[Wattstax]] was released, simply titled "WATTSTAX".<ref>{{cite web|url= |
On August 28, 2007, a 3 CD Deluxe Edition box set of the 1972 music event [[Wattstax]] was released, simply titled "WATTSTAX".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SNUNY2 |title=WATTSTAX (3-CD Deluxe Edition): Various Artists: Music |website=Amazon |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> For the first time in over 30 years almost half of the 25-plus performers at that event were finally heard for the first time, released in remastered stereo. The 3-CD set still only covers about one-third of the entire Wattstax concert, which lasted 10+ hours; Concord has not issued any statement as to the possibility of preparing future releases that would cover the remaining Wattstax material. (Isaac Hayes' complete Wattstax set was released on CD in 1995.) |
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On April 9, 2013, President [[Barack Obama]] and First Lady [[Michelle Obama]] hosted an event called "In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul". |
On April 9, 2013, President [[Barack Obama]] and First Lady [[Michelle Obama]] hosted an event called "In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul". Invited Stax artists included Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and Sam Moore. First Lady Obama also led a workshop called, "Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/02/upcoming-guidance-performance-white-house-memphis-soul |title=Upcoming Guidance on "in Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul" | The White House |date=2013-04-02 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=2013-07-13}}</ref> |
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In 2012 as part of the label revival, Stax Records signed [[Ben Harper]] and released his album with [[Charlie Musselwhite]] Get Up! |
In 2012 as part of the label revival, Stax Records signed [[Ben Harper]] and released his album with [[Charlie Musselwhite]] called ''[[Get Up! (Ben Harper album)|Get Up!]]'' on January 29, 2013. Harper won a [[Grammy Award]] for Best Blues Album.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/videos/ben-harper-charlie-musselwhite-win-best-blues-album |title= Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite Win Best Blues Album |publisher=Grammy.com |date=2014-03-03}}</ref> |
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[[Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats]] released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album on August 21, 2015. |
[[Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats]] released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album on August 21, 2015. The band's live performance on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon]]'' is credited with having boosted the band into the mainstream.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/6700779/nathaniel-rateliff-and-the-night-sweats-jimmy-fallon-appearance-success |title=How Jimmy Fallon Helped Put Soul Sensations Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats on the Map |publisher=Billboard.com |date=2015-09-21 |access-date=2015-09-21}}</ref> |
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In 2016, Stax issued an album of new material by one of the label's original artists, William Bell, recorded in New York City and co-produced by him and Jon Leventhal. |
In 2016, Stax issued an album of new material by one of the label's original artists, William Bell, recorded in New York City and co-produced by him and Jon Leventhal. Stax Records was inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame on June 6, 2015 and was accepted by former Stax producer Al Bell in Clarksdale, MS. |
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On September 22, 2017, Stax released ''Soulsville U.S.A. (A Celebration of Stax)'', a three-CD compilation containing 60 tracks from the entire history of Stax Records. This release is an update of the ''Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration'' two-CD compilation from 2007. ''Soulsville U.S.A.'' contains twelve tracks not included in ''Stax 50th''; there are two tracks in ''Stax 50th'' that are not included in ''Soulsville U.S.A.'' |
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[https://staxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/written-in-their-soul-the-stax-songwriter-demos Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos], a compilation of 146 demos from Stax, won the 2023 Grammy Awards for [[Grammy Award for Best Album Notes|Liner Notes]] and [[Grammy Award for Best Historical Album|Best Historical Album]]. |
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In 2024 Stax was the subject of an HBO documentary series ''[[Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.]]'' tracing the label's triumphs and trials to the present day.<ref name="Grdn2024">{{cite news |last1=Farber |first1=Jim |title=‘It became a beacon of hope’: the incredible story of Stax Records |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/20/stax-records-story-otis-redding-isaac-hayes |access-date=11 June 2024 |publisher=The Guardian |date=20 May 2024}}</ref> |
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==Label variations== |
==Label variations== |
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===Stax=== |
===Stax=== |
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*June |
* June 1961 – March 1968 (Atlantic distribution): Light blue label with STAX and "Stax-o-Wax" logo at top |
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*November |
* November 1967 – April 1968 (Atlantic distribution): Green label with multicolored "Stax" logo at left |
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*June 1968 – 1970 (Paramount distribution): Yellow label with blue "finger-snapping hand" logo at left |
* June 1968 – 1970 (Paramount distribution): Yellow label with blue "finger-snapping hand" logo at left |
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* |
* 1970 – August 1971 (independent distribution): Same as above: yellow label and blue "finger-snapping hand" logo at left (some of these labels still bore the Paramount disclaimer) |
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*August |
* August 1971 – November 1975 (independent distribution): Yellow label with brown "finger-snapping hand" logo at left |
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*1977–1978 (Fantasy distribution): Red or purple and white labels with black "finger-snapping hand" logo at left |
* 1977–1978 (Fantasy distribution): Red or purple and white labels with black "finger-snapping hand" logo at left |
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===Volt=== |
===Volt=== |
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*November |
* November 1961 – March 1968 (Atlantic/Atco distribution): Dark brown and red label with "VOLT" and red lightning bolt logo at top |
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*March |
* March 1968 – April 1968 (Atlantic/Atco distribution): Multicolored label with multicolored "VOLT records" on left and red lightning bolt on right |
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*June |
* June 1968 – June 1971 (Stax distribution): Dark blue label with orange and black lightning bolt on right |
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*August 1971 – 1975 (Stax distribution): Orange label with yellow lightning bolt on right |
* August 1971 – 1975 (Stax distribution): Orange label with yellow lightning bolt on right |
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==Stax artists== |
==Stax artists== |
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{{unreferenced section|date=January 2012}} |
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{| cellpadding="0" style="width:100%; margin:auto;" |
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|- |
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| style="width:33%; vertical-align:top;"| |
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===Atlantic Records era |
===1957–1968: Atlantic Records era=== |
||
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}} |
|||
*[[Rufus Thomas]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Unterberger, Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/rufus-thomas-mn0000303050/biography |title=Rufus Thomas: Biography |publisher=AllMusic | access-date=14 October 2021}}</ref> |
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*[[Carla Thomas]] (Satellite, Atlantic, then Stax) |
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*[[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]] |
*[[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]] |
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*[[Gus Cannon]] |
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*[[The Astors (music group)|The Astors]] |
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*[[Rufus Thomas]] |
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*[[Wendy Rene]] |
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*[[Otis Redding]] (Volt) |
*[[Otis Redding]] (Volt) |
||
*[[Carla Thomas]] (Satellite, Atlantic, then Stax) |
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*[[The Mar-Keys]] (Satellite, then Stax) |
*[[The Mar-Keys]] (Satellite, then Stax) |
||
*[[ |
*[[The Mad Lads]] (Volt) |
||
*[[Ruby Johnson]] (Volt) |
*[[Ruby Johnson]] (Volt) |
||
*[[Mable John]] |
*[[Mable John]] |
||
*[[Gus Cannon]] |
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*The Astors |
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*[[Wendy Rene]] |
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*[[Sam & Dave]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax, recordings issued by Stax by arrangement with Atlantic until 1968) |
*[[Sam & Dave]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax, recordings issued by Stax by arrangement with Atlantic until 1968) |
||
*[[Eddie Floyd]] (Safice, Atlantic, then Stax) |
*[[Eddie Floyd]] (Safice, Atlantic, then Stax) |
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Line 220: | Line 248: | ||
*[[Albert King]] |
*[[Albert King]] |
||
*[[Ollie & the Nightingales]] (Chalice, then Stax) |
*[[Ollie & the Nightingales]] (Chalice, then Stax) |
||
*[[Wilson Pickett]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax) |
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*[[Don Covay]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax) |
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*[[Isaac Hayes]] (Enterprise) |
*[[Isaac Hayes]] (Enterprise) |
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*[[The Goodees]] (Hip) |
*[[The Goodees]] (Hip) |
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Line 227: | Line 253: | ||
*[[Johnny Daye]] |
*[[Johnny Daye]] |
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*[[Judy Clay]] |
*[[Judy Clay]] |
||
*[[Arthur Conley]] (Jotis, signed to Fame/Atco, recorded at Stax) |
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* Veltones (Satellite) |
* Veltones (Satellite) |
||
* The Chips (Satellite) |
* The Chips (Satellite) |
||
*[[Wilson Pickett]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax) |
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| style="width:33%; vertical-align:top;"| |
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*[[Don Covay]] (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax) |
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*[[Arthur Conley]] (Jotis, signed to Fame/Atco, recorded at Stax) |
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{{Div col end}} |
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=== |
===1968–1975: post-Atlantic years=== |
||
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}} |
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*[[Johnnie Taylor]]<ref>{{cite web|first=Patrick|last= Montier |url=http://staxrecords.free.fr/jtaylor.htm |title=Johnnie Taylor|publisher=Staxrecords.free.fr | access-date=2021-10-11}}</ref> |
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*[[The Soul Children]] |
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*[[The Staple Singers]] |
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*[[The Dramatics]] (Volt) |
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*[[Jean Knight]] |
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*[[Mel and Tim]] |
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*[[Isaac Hayes]] (Enterprise) |
*[[Isaac Hayes]] (Enterprise) |
||
*[[Albert King]] |
*[[Albert King]] |
||
*[[O.B. McClinton]] |
*[[O. B. McClinton]] |
||
*[[Johnnie Taylor]] |
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*[[Eddie Floyd]] |
*[[Eddie Floyd]] |
||
*[[William Bell (singer)|William Bell]] |
*[[William Bell (singer)|William Bell]] |
||
*[[The Soul Children]] |
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*[[Little Milton]] |
*[[Little Milton]] |
||
*[[The Emotions]] (Volt) |
*[[The Emotions]] (Volt) |
||
*Booker T. & |
*[[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]] |
||
*[[The Bar-Kays]] (Volt) |
*[[The Bar-Kays]] (Volt) |
||
*[[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] |
*[[David Porter (musician)|David Porter]] |
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Line 248: | Line 281: | ||
*[[Richard Pryor]] (Partee) |
*[[Richard Pryor]] (Partee) |
||
*[[Bill Cosby]] (Partee) |
*[[Bill Cosby]] (Partee) |
||
*[[The Staple Singers]] |
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*[[The Ross Singers]] |
*[[The Ross Singers]] |
||
*[[The Rance Allen Group]] |
*[[The Rance Allen Group]] |
||
*[[Kim Weston]] |
*[[Kim Weston]] |
||
* The Leaders (Volt) |
* The Leaders (Volt) |
||
*[[The Dramatics]] (Volt) |
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*[[The Temprees]] (We Produce) |
*[[The Temprees]] (We Produce) |
||
*[[Jean Knight]] |
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*[[Rev. Jesse Jackson]] (Respect) |
*[[Rev. Jesse Jackson]] (Respect) |
||
*[[Mel and Tim]] |
|||
*[[Moms Mabley]] (Partee) |
*[[Moms Mabley]] (Partee) |
||
*[[Luther Ingram]] (Koko) |
*[[Luther Ingram]] (Koko) |
||
*[[Terry Manning]] (Enterprise) |
*[[Terry Manning]] (Enterprise) |
||
*[[Tommy Tate (singer)|Tommy Tate]] (Koko) |
*[[Tommy Tate (singer)|Tommy Tate]] (Koko) |
||
* |
*The Nightingales |
||
*[[Frederick Knight (singer)|Frederick Knight]] |
*[[Frederick Knight (singer)|Frederick Knight]] |
||
*[[Shirley Brown]] |
*[[Shirley Brown]] |
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Line 268: | Line 297: | ||
*[[Inez Foxx]] |
*[[Inez Foxx]] |
||
*[[The Sweet Inspirations]] |
*[[The Sweet Inspirations]] |
||
*[[Ernie Hines]] (We Produce) |
*[[Ernie Hines]] (Stax and We Produce) |
||
*[[Roy Lee Johnson]] |
*[[Roy Lee Johnson]] |
||
*[[Jimmy McCracklin]] |
*[[Jimmy McCracklin]] |
||
*[[Lena Zavaroni]]<ref>Bowman, Rob (1997). ''Soulsville USA''. p. 329</ref> |
|||
*[[Lena Zavaroni]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=XLdsRwpZ9oYC&pg=PA329&lpg=PA329&dq=zavaroni+%2B+stax#v=onepage&q=zavaroni%20%2B%20stax&f=false |title=Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records - Rob Bowman - Google Books |publisher=Books.google.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-13|isbn=9780825672842 |year=1997 }}</ref> |
|||
*[[Linda Lyndell]] (Volt) |
*[[Linda Lyndell]] (Volt) |
||
*[[Round Robin Monopoly]] (Truth) |
*[[Round Robin Monopoly]] (Truth) |
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Line 277: | Line 306: | ||
*[[Larry Raspberry & the High Steppers]] (Enterprise) |
*[[Larry Raspberry & the High Steppers]] (Enterprise) |
||
*[[Eric Mercury]] (Enterprise) |
*[[Eric Mercury]] (Enterprise) |
||
*Ken Matthews |
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*[[Lou Bond]] (We Produce) |
*[[Lou Bond]] (We Produce) |
||
*[[Glenn Yarbrough]] |
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* [[Ben Atkins (singer)|Ben Atkins]], <small>(First Caucasian singer signed to the label<ref>''The Guardian'', 21 Mar 2012 - [https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/mar/21/old-music-smith-perkins-smith Old music: Smith Perkins Smith – Say No More by Paul Nettleton]</ref>)</small> |
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{{Div col end}} |
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===2006–present: Concord years=== |
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| style="width:33%; vertical-align:top;"| |
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{{Div col|colwidth=20em}} |
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===Concord years (2006–present)=== |
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*[[Angie Stone]] |
*[[Angie Stone]] |
||
*[[Ben Harper]] |
*[[Ben Harper]] |
||
*[[Emerson, Lake & Palmer]] |
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*[[Lalah Hathaway]] |
*[[Lalah Hathaway]] |
||
*[[Leela James]] |
*[[Leela James]] |
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Line 290: | Line 323: | ||
*[[Nathaniel Rateliff|Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats]] |
*[[Nathaniel Rateliff|Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats]] |
||
*[[Nikka Costa]] |
*[[Nikka Costa]] |
||
*[[Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi]] |
|||
*[[Soulive]] |
*[[Soulive]] |
||
*[[Southern Avenue (band)|Southern Avenue]]<ref name="Bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.southernavenueband.com/biography |title=Southern Avenue - Memphis Music - Official Site | Stax Records |website=Southernavenueband.com |access-date=2017-07-11}}</ref> |
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*Southern Avenue |
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*[[Teena Marie]] |
*[[Teena Marie]] |
||
*[[William Bell (singer)|William Bell]] |
*[[William Bell (singer)|William Bell]] |
||
* Steel Young |
|||
|} |
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{{Div col end}} |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
||
* [[List of record labels]] |
* [[List of record labels]] |
||
* [[ |
* [[Goldwax Records]] |
||
* [[ |
* [[Hi Records]] |
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* [[Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section]] |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
||
{{Reflist |
{{Reflist}} |
||
==References== |
==References== |
||
*{{cite book | author=[[Rob Bowman (music writer)|Rob Bowman]] | title=Soulsville U.S.A: The Story of Stax Records |
*{{cite book | author=[[Rob Bowman (music writer)|Rob Bowman]] | title=Soulsville U.S.A: The Story of Stax Records | publisher=Prentice-Hall| year=1997 | isbn=9780825672279 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XLdsRwpZ9oYC}} |
||
| publisher=Prentice-Hall| year=1997 | isbn=9780825672279}} |
|||
*{{cite book | author=Robert Gordon | title= Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion | publisher=Bloomsbury USA | year= 2013 | isbn= 9781596915770}} |
*{{cite book | author=Robert Gordon | title= Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion | publisher=Bloomsbury USA | year= 2013 | isbn= 9781596915770}} |
||
*{{cite book | author=Peter Guralnick | title= Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom | publisher= Back Bay Books | year= 1986 | isbn= 0-316-33273-9}} |
*{{cite book | author=Peter Guralnick | title= Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom | url=https://archive.org/details/sweetsoulmusicrh0000gura_g0m5 | url-access=registration | publisher= Back Bay Books | year= 1986 | isbn= 0-316-33273-9}} |
||
*{{cite book | author=Mark Ribowsky | title= Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul | publisher=Liveright | year= 2015 | isbn= 9780871408730}} |
*{{cite book | author=Mark Ribowsky | title= Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul | publisher=Liveright | year= 2015 | isbn= 9780871408730}} |
||
*{{cite book | author= Arnold Shaw | title= Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues | publisher=Macmillan | year= 1978 | isbn= 0-02-061740-2}} |
*{{cite book | author= Arnold Shaw | title= Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues | url= https://archive.org/details/honkersshouterst00shaw | url-access= registration | publisher=Macmillan | year= 1978 | isbn= 0-02-061740-2}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
||
{{External links|section|date=February 2023}} |
|||
===Official sites=== |
===Official sites=== |
||
Line 320: | Line 356: | ||
===Informational sites=== |
===Informational sites=== |
||
* [http://www.history-of-rock.com/stax_records.htm History of Stax] |
* [http://www.history-of-rock.com/stax_records.htm History of Stax] |
||
* [http://staxrecords.free.fr/index.htm The Stax Site] |
* [http://staxrecords.free.fr/index.htm The Stax Site]—includes full Stax album and singles discographies |
||
* [http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxvolt.html Stax/Volt albums discographies] by Both Sides Now Publications |
* [http://www.bsnpubs.com/stax/staxvolt.html Stax/Volt albums discographies] by Both Sides Now Publications |
||
* [http://www.globaldogproductions.info/s/satellite-stax.html Stax/Satellite Discography] by Global Dog Productions |
* [http://www.globaldogproductions.info/s/satellite-stax.html Stax/Satellite Discography] by Global Dog Productions |
||
* {{Discogs label|Stax}} |
|||
===Documentaries and interviews=== |
===Documentaries and interviews=== |
||
* [ |
* [https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/wattstax/index.html P.O.V. Wattstax companion website] (featuring streaming audio of performances and a podcast interview with director Mel Stuart) |
||
* [ |
* [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/stax/index.html?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_greatperformancesbrthestaxrecordsstory_2007-08-02 ''Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story'']—PBS documentary on Stax and 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Long Form Video |
||
* [http://jpp-product.club.fr/index.htm The Otis Redding French site] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125071335/http://jpp-product.club.fr/index.htm The Otis Redding French site] |
||
* [http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya012006.mp3 MP3 audio interview] with Stax Records expert Rob Bowman on the radio program ''[[The Sound of Young America]]'' |
* [http://media.libsyn.com/media/tsoya/tsoya012006.mp3 MP3 audio interview] with Stax Records expert Rob Bowman on the radio program ''[[The Sound of Young America]]'' |
||
{{Stax Records}} |
{{Stax Records}} |
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{{Concord}} |
{{Concord}} |
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{{The Spinners (American band)}} |
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{{Sam & Dave}} |
{{Sam & Dave}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Stax Records| ]] |
[[Category:Stax Records| ]] |
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[[Category:American |
[[Category:African-American cultural history]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:American companies established in 1957]] |
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[[Category:Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee]] |
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[[Category:Soul music record labels]] |
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[[Category:Concord Music Group]] |
[[Category:Concord Music Group]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Gulf and Western Industries]] |
||
[[Category:African-American history]] |
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[[Category:History of Memphis, Tennessee]] |
[[Category:History of Memphis, Tennessee]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Record labels based in Memphis, Tennessee]] |
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[[Category:Record labels established in 1957]] |
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[[Category:Rhythm and blues record labels]] |
[[Category:Rhythm and blues record labels]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Soul music record labels]] |
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[[Category:Progressive rock record labels]] |
Latest revision as of 23:55, 26 October 2024
Stax Records | |
---|---|
Parent company | Concord |
Founded | 1957 |
Founder | Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton |
Distributor(s) |
|
Genre | |
Location | Memphis, Tennessee |
Official website | www |
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.[1] It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
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).[2] It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's house band, Booker T. & 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.[2] 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."[3]
Following 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.[2] 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 a problematic distribution deal with CBS Records, caused the label to slide into insolvency, resulting in its forced closure in late 1975.[2]
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 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 the 1959–1968 Stax material.[2]
History
[edit]1957–1960: early years as Satellite Records
[edit]Stax Records, originally named Satellite Records, was founded in Memphis in 1957 by Jim Stewart,[4][5] 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 the company.[2] Taking a considerable financial risk, she mortgaged her family home to invest US$2,500 (US$26,401 in 2023 dollars[6]) 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 the address. We didn't have any sound equipment or anything else but a small building and a lot of desire."[7]
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 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 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."[7] 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),[4] became 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.
1961: name change to Stax and beginning of partnership with Atlantic
[edit]With the success of "Cause I Love You", Stewart made a distribution deal giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite recordings.[8] From this point on, Stewart focused more and more on recording and promoting rhythm and blues acts. Not having really known anything about 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 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.[7] 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 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 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 Stewart and Estelle Axton.[7][9][10]
1962–1964: Stax and Volt in ascendancy
[edit]By 1962, the pieces were in place that allowed Stax to turn from a successful regional label into (alongside Motown and Atlantic) a national R&B powerhouse.[2] 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,[2] which regularly voted with Stewart on which records would be issued on the label.[7]
Record store
[edit]While Stewart ran 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 the music that Stax recorded.[11] 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 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 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.[12]
A&R
[edit]Original A&R director Chips Moman left 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.
House band
[edit]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 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.[2] Dunn eventually became 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 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 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.[2] 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 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 the musicians' parts were written down and nothing was worked out in advance.[12]
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 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 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 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.[13]
Stax studio
[edit]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 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 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 the studio further with a four-track recorder.[14]
Early successes
[edit]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 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 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 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 the label formalized its distribution agreement with Atlantic, Stax/Volt artists made the charts much more frequently.[2]
1965–1967: Stax/Volt's continued success
[edit]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.[2] Carla Thomas also formally rejoined the Stax label in 1965. Perhaps more importantly for 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.[2] 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 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 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.[15] 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 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[6]) to complete 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 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. & the M.G.'s, Eddie Floyd, the Bar-Kays, Albert King, and the Mad Lads.[2] 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.[7]
Unlike Motown, which frequently packaged its artists on review tours, Stax only infrequently sponsored concerts to promote its acts. The first of such concerts 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 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.[2] 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 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.[2]
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 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.[2] 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 a week (US$1,174 in 2023 dollars[6]). 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 the Big Six to pay them for their production duties with the artists they backed.[16]
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.[2] 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 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 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 the Stax rhythm section as salaried Stax employees.[17]
1968: break with Atlantic Records
[edit]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 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 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.[18][2] Only its unreleased recordings remained 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.[2]
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.[2] Stewart 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,[19] 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.[18]
As a result of this turn of events, Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic,[20] and, on May 13, 1968, he instead sold Stax to Paramount Pictures, a unit of Gulf+Western; the sale brought it into direct co-ownership with Dot Records, a pop label Paramount had owned since 1957.[21][22][7] 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).[23] The company 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 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.[24]
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.[2] Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for 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.[23] 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".[25]
After the Atlantic distribution deal expired in May 1968, Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after 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.[26] 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 the record distributors.
1968–1972: Stax as an independent label
[edit]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 the Stax singers never try to embody abject lust.
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.[23] To begin rebuilding its catalog, Stax, under orders from Al Bell, released a whopping 27 albums[2] (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.[23][28] 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.[2] By 1971, Hayes was established as the label's biggest star and was particularly noted for his best-selling soundtrack to the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft.[23] 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.[23] Al Bell began signing many more artists such as the Dramatics, Frederick Knight and The Soul Children.[29] 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, 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.[7]
By the fall of 1970, both Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones were frustrated with Stax's treatment of 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."[30] A final Booker T. and the MGs album was issued in 1971.
The two remaining MGs (Duck Dunn and Al Jackson) stayed on at Stax, working as session musicians on various Stax recordings, although they also worked elsewhere. In particular, Al Jackson worked extensively with Al Green at crosstown rival Hi Records, co-writing a number of Green's hits between 1971 and 1975.
Stax, meanwhile, subsisted on its own between 1970 and 1972, using independent distributors. By mid-1971, the Stax logo was slightly altered in which the color of the finger-snapping hand was changed from blue to brown.
As co-owner, Bell undertook an ambitious program to make Stax not only a major recording company, but also a prominent force in the black community. For the first time, many of the label's acts began frequently recording at outside studios (such as Ardent Studios in Memphis and at recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama) and working with outside producers, signaling an end of the signature Stax sound. Bell even created a comedy subsidiary label, Partee Records, which released albums from the likes of Richard Pryor[2] and Moms Mabley; and he made a bid for the white pop market by signing Big Star and licensing albums by Terry Manning, the UK progressive rock band Skin Alley, and Lena Zavaroni. In addition, Bell became heavily involved with various causes in the African-American community, and was a close friend of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and a financial supporter of his Operation PUSH.
On August 20, 1972, the Stax label presented a major concert, Wattstax, featured performances by Stax recording artists and humor from rising young comedian Richard Pryor.[2] Known as the "Black Woodstock", Wattstax was hosted by Reverend Jesse Jackson and drew a crowd of over 100,000 people, most of them African-American.[2] Wattstax was filmed by motion picture director Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), and a concert film of the event was released to theaters by Columbia Pictures in February 1973.
By this time, the Stax recording studio was accepting outside work again. In July and December 1973, Elvis Presley recorded three albums at Stax: Raised on Rock, Good Times, and Promised Land, which produced four top 20 hits for RCA, the label to which Elvis had been signed since 1955.[31]
1972–1975: decline and bankruptcy
[edit]Despite the success of Wattstax, the future of Stax was unstable. In 1972, Bell bought out Stewart's remaining interest in the company, and established a distribution deal with CBS Records.[2] CBS Records President Clive Davis saw Stax as a means for CBS to fully break into the African-American market and successfully compete with Motown.[2] Bell had originally proposed that CBS buy 50% of the company, but Davis discussed it with CBS's corporate attorneys, who saw anti-trust problems, so a national distribution deal was worked out instead. However, Davis was fired by the company shortly after signing the Stax distribution deal[2] because of reports that he used funds from CBS for personal expenditures, including an expensive bar mitzvah of his son. (Davis, for his part, continues to insist that the "official" reason for his firing was only a convenient excuse and that, in reality, his quick ouster was a matter of personality conflict.)[32][33][34] Without Davis at the helm, CBS very quickly lost interest in Stax.[2]
The deal was altered by having the Stax labels' profits cut by up to 40%, particularly since the CBS distribution agents bypassed the traditional small mom-and-pop record sellers in the black community which had been the backbone of Stax's distribution, and weren't pushing the Stax product to the larger retailers for fear of undercutting rack space for CBS R&B artists such as Earth Wind and Fire, the Isley Brothers, and Sly & the Family Stone; additionally, CBS reportedly displayed a greater level of favoritism toward Philadelphia International Records, which was distributed by CBS and had become a formidable competitor of Stax and Motown combined.[35] Reports came in to Stax of stores in cities such as Chicago and Detroit being unable to get new Stax records despite consumer demands, and the company attempted to annul its distribution deal with CBS.[2] However, although CBS was uninterested in fully promoting Stax, it refused to release the label from its contract,[2] for fear that Stax would land a more productive deal with another company and then become CBS's direct competitor.
The last big chart hit for Stax was "Woman to Woman" in 1974 from Shirley Brown, which appeared on subsidiary label, Truth, handled by independent distributors. The single's success helped delay the inevitable demise of the company for several months. By 1975, all of the secondary Stax labels had folded, with only the main Stax label and Truth remaining. Stax had signed artists like Joyce Cobb bringing her over from their Truth country music label that year, but were never able to produce recordings with her and other new talent. Truth was able to release a couple of other singles and an album by Shirley Brown.
Al Bell attempted to stave off bankruptcy with bank loans from Memphis' Union Planters Bank.[2] Jim Stewart, unwilling to see the company die, returned to active participation in Stax and mortgaged his Memphis mansion to provide the label with short-term working capital. However, the Union Planters bank officers soon got cold feet, and foreclosed on the loans, costing Stewart his home and fortune. In the 2014 documentary Take Me To The River, Bell states unequivocally that the city's white power structure loathed the presence of such a successful black-owned company and was determined to destroy it by any means necessary, using the bank loans as an excuse.[2]
Stax/Volt Records was forced into involuntary bankruptcy on December 19, 1975[36][37] and was closed by order of federal bankruptcy judge William B. Leffler on January 12, 1976.[38][39] Three days before the bankruptcy proceedings, Union Planters intended to produce a memorial record album for Martin Luther King Jr. in which the proceeds would go toward allowing Stax to continue operation.[40]
1976–1977: Stax in limbo
[edit]Al Bell was arrested and indicted for bank fraud during the Stax bankruptcy proceedings, but was acquitted of those charges in August 1976.[2] In early 1977, Union Planters sold Stax, its master tapes, and its publishing arms for about four million dollars to a holding corporation.[41] This corporation then sold the Stax-owned master recordings, as well as the name "Stax Records", to Fantasy Records later that same year.[42]
Effectively, that meant that Fantasy owned and controlled all Stax material recorded after May 1968 and the handful of pre-May 1968 Stax singles and albums Atlantic initially declined to distribute nationally in the 1960s (none of which were hits). Fantasy also gained control and ownership of all unreleased tracks and alternate takes of Stax recordings, including those recorded before May 1968, and gained the right to issue new recordings under the Stax Records banner.
Stax's one-time McLemore Ave. headquarters were not sold until 1981, when Union Planters deeded it to the Southside Church of God in Christ for ten dollars.[43]
Almo/Irving Music, the music publishing partner of A&M Records, acquired East Memphis Music, Stax's publishing arm, in 1981.[44]
1978–1981: Stax resumes operations
[edit]In October 1977, Fantasy announced it would set up a Memphis office primarily for the purposes of reviving the Stax label, with local promoter Bruce Bowles being hired as Fantasy's regional promotion and marketing manager.[45] The next month, Fantasy appointed long-time Stax writer and producer David Porter to head up a revived version of the Stax label, which was relaunched in January 1978.[46] Porter signed several new acts to Stax, including Fat Larry's Band, Rick Dees and Sho Nuff, and re-signed mid-1970s Stax acts Rance Allen, Soul Children and Shirley Brown. Porter was also responsible for overseeing compilations of previously unissued material by Isaac Hayes, Randy Brown, the Bar-Kays, Albert King and the Emotions.
This iteration of Stax released over two dozen singles, including nine that made the US R&B charts. By far the biggest hit of this era was the Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost", a #9 R&B hit in 1978; it was a remixed and over-dubbed version of a track the band had recorded for Stax in 1975.
Fantasy had to make do, however, without many of the well-known acts on Stax, who moved on to other labels during the bankruptcy proceedings and were enjoying a string of hits at their new homes, including the Bar-Kays (on Mercury), Johnnie Taylor (on Columbia, where he had the nation's first RIAA-certified Platinum single in "Disco Lady"),[47] Isaac Hayes (on Polydor), the Staple Singers, Richard Pryor (both on Warner Bros.), the Dramatics (on ABC), Shirley Brown (on Arista), and the Emotions (on Columbia, and later on ARC after their new producer Maurice White relaunched it as a vehicle for his productions).
Porter left Stax in 1979, and the label's new releases slowed to a trickle. By late 1981, Stax was strictly in the business of reissuing material recorded between 1968 through 1975 and previously unreleased archival material from the 1960s and 1970s.
1982–2003: Stax as a reissue label
[edit]Through much of the 1980s and 1990s, Stax activities focused exclusively on re-issues. Because Atlantic owned (and still owns) most of the Atlantic-era Stax master recordings released up to May 1968, the Atlantic-controlled material has been reissued by co-owned Rhino Records or licensed to Collectables Records.
Fantasy, meanwhile, also repackaged and re-released the Stax catalogue it controlled, on the Stax label. Because Fantasy owned the non-master recordings of all Stax material, for several of its Stax compilations, Fantasy issued alternate takes of the Stax hit recordings in place of the master recordings owned by Atlantic.
In 1988, Fantasy issued the various artists album Top of the Stax, Vol. 1: Twenty Greatest Hits. This marked the first time an album was issued with both Atlantic-owned and Fantasy-owned Stax material; it was issued by arrangement with Atlantic Records. A second volume was released by Fantasy in 1991.
In 1991, Atlantic issued The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959–1968, a nine-disc compact disc boxed set containing all of the Atlantic-era Stax a-sides. This release earned Grammy Award nominations for producer Steve Greenberg in the Best Historical Album category and for writer Rob Bowman in the Best Album Notes category. The boxed set was certified gold in 2001, the largest collection of CDs ever to have earned that certification. Fantasy followed their lead and issued volumes two and three of the Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles series in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Volume Two compiles the Stax/Volt singles from 1968 to 1971, while Volume Three completes the collection with the singles issued from 1972 to 1975. Volume Three earned a Best Album Notes Grammy Award for Rob Bowman. In 2000, Fantasy issued a boxed set titled The Stax Story, which includes pre-1968 material by arrangement with Atlantic.
Fantasy tried to revive Stax's sister label Volt Records twice during this time, first in the late 1980s and again in the late 1990s.
2003–present: Stax Museum and revival of the label
[edit]After a decade of neglect, the Southside Church of God in Christ tore down the original Stax studio in 1989.[2] Over a decade later the Stax Museum of American Soul Music operated by the non-profit, Soulsville Foundation, was constructed at the site and opened in 2003. A replica of the original building, the Stax Museum features exhibits on the history of Stax and soul music in general, and hosts various music-related community programs and events. The Soulsville Foundation also operates the Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School, all part of the same campus where the original Stax Records was created.
Concord Records purchased the Fantasy Label Group in 2004, and in December 2006 announced the reactivation of the Stax label as a forum for newly recorded music. The first acts signed to the new Stax included Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone, and Soulive.[48]
The formal relaunch came with the release on March 13, 2007 of Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration, a 2-CD box set containing 50 tracks from the entire history of Stax Records.[49] The first Concord-distributed Stax album of all-new material was a various artists CD which was released on March 27, 2007 and titled Interpretations: Celebrating The Music of Earth, Wind & Fire.[50] Soulive was the first artist on revived label to release an album of all-new material with No Place Like Soul released July 10, 2007.
On August 28, 2007, a 3 CD Deluxe Edition box set of the 1972 music event Wattstax was released, simply titled "WATTSTAX".[51] For the first time in over 30 years almost half of the 25-plus performers at that event were finally heard for the first time, released in remastered stereo. The 3-CD set still only covers about one-third of the entire Wattstax concert, which lasted 10+ hours; Concord has not issued any statement as to the possibility of preparing future releases that would cover the remaining Wattstax material. (Isaac Hayes' complete Wattstax set was released on CD in 1995.)
On April 9, 2013, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted an event called "In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul". Invited Stax artists included Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and Sam Moore. First Lady Obama also led a workshop called, "Soulsville, USA: The History of Memphis Soul."[52]
In 2012 as part of the label revival, Stax Records signed Ben Harper and released his album with Charlie Musselwhite called Get Up! on January 29, 2013. Harper won a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album.[53]
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album on August 21, 2015. The band's live performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is credited with having boosted the band into the mainstream.[54]
In 2016, Stax issued an album of new material by one of the label's original artists, William Bell, recorded in New York City and co-produced by him and Jon Leventhal. Stax Records was inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame on June 6, 2015 and was accepted by former Stax producer Al Bell in Clarksdale, MS.
On September 22, 2017, Stax released Soulsville U.S.A. (A Celebration of Stax), a three-CD compilation containing 60 tracks from the entire history of Stax Records. This release is an update of the Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration two-CD compilation from 2007. Soulsville U.S.A. contains twelve tracks not included in Stax 50th; there are two tracks in Stax 50th that are not included in Soulsville U.S.A.
Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, a compilation of 146 demos from Stax, won the 2023 Grammy Awards for Liner Notes and Best Historical Album.
In 2024 Stax was the subject of an HBO documentary series Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. tracing the label's triumphs and trials to the present day.[55]
Label variations
[edit]Stax
[edit]- June 1961 – March 1968 (Atlantic distribution): Light blue label with STAX and "Stax-o-Wax" logo at top
- November 1967 – April 1968 (Atlantic distribution): Green label with multicolored "Stax" logo at left
- June 1968 – 1970 (Paramount distribution): Yellow label with blue "finger-snapping hand" logo at left
- 1970 – August 1971 (independent distribution): Same as above: yellow label and blue "finger-snapping hand" logo at left (some of these labels still bore the Paramount disclaimer)
- August 1971 – November 1975 (independent distribution): Yellow label with brown "finger-snapping hand" logo at left
- 1977–1978 (Fantasy distribution): Red or purple and white labels with black "finger-snapping hand" logo at left
Volt
[edit]- November 1961 – March 1968 (Atlantic/Atco distribution): Dark brown and red label with "VOLT" and red lightning bolt logo at top
- March 1968 – April 1968 (Atlantic/Atco distribution): Multicolored label with multicolored "VOLT records" on left and red lightning bolt on right
- June 1968 – June 1971 (Stax distribution): Dark blue label with orange and black lightning bolt on right
- August 1971 – 1975 (Stax distribution): Orange label with yellow lightning bolt on right
Stax artists
[edit]1957–1968: Atlantic Records era
[edit]- Rufus Thomas[56]
- Carla Thomas (Satellite, Atlantic, then Stax)
- Booker T. & the M.G.'s
- Otis Redding (Volt)
- The Mar-Keys (Satellite, then Stax)
- The Mad Lads (Volt)
- Ruby Johnson (Volt)
- Mable John
- Gus Cannon
- The Astors
- Wendy Rene
- Sam & Dave (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax, recordings issued by Stax by arrangement with Atlantic until 1968)
- Eddie Floyd (Safice, Atlantic, then Stax)
- The Charmels (Volt)
- Johnnie Taylor
- William Bell
- The Bar-Kays (Volt)
- Albert King
- Ollie & the Nightingales (Chalice, then Stax)
- Isaac Hayes (Enterprise)
- The Goodees (Hip)
- Christian Harmonizers (Chalice)
- Johnny Daye
- Judy Clay
- Veltones (Satellite)
- The Chips (Satellite)
- Wilson Pickett (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax)
- Don Covay (signed to Atlantic, recorded at Stax)
- Arthur Conley (Jotis, signed to Fame/Atco, recorded at Stax)
1968–1975: post-Atlantic years
[edit]- Johnnie Taylor[57]
- The Soul Children
- The Staple Singers
- The Dramatics (Volt)
- Jean Knight
- Mel and Tim
- Isaac Hayes (Enterprise)
- Albert King
- O. B. McClinton
- Eddie Floyd
- William Bell
- Little Milton
- The Emotions (Volt)
- Booker T. & the M.G.'s
- The Bar-Kays (Volt)
- David Porter
- The Epsilons featuring Lloyd Parks -McFadden & Whitehead
- Richard Pryor (Partee)
- Bill Cosby (Partee)
- The Ross Singers
- The Rance Allen Group
- Kim Weston
- The Leaders (Volt)
- The Temprees (We Produce)
- Rev. Jesse Jackson (Respect)
- Moms Mabley (Partee)
- Luther Ingram (Koko)
- Terry Manning (Enterprise)
- Tommy Tate (Koko)
- The Nightingales
- Frederick Knight
- Shirley Brown
- Calvin Scott
- Inez Foxx
- The Sweet Inspirations
- Ernie Hines (Stax and We Produce)
- Roy Lee Johnson
- Jimmy McCracklin
- Lena Zavaroni[58]
- Linda Lyndell (Volt)
- Round Robin Monopoly (Truth)
- Joyce Cobb (Truth)
- Larry Raspberry & the High Steppers (Enterprise)
- Eric Mercury (Enterprise)
- Ken Matthews
- Lou Bond (We Produce)
- Glenn Yarbrough
- Ben Atkins, (First Caucasian singer signed to the label[59])
2006–present: Concord years
[edit]See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "Billboard Music Week" (PDF). Billboard. September 11, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak Blount Danois, Ericka. "The Soul of Stax Records". Waxpoetics.com. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
- ^ Bowman, Rob (October 1995). "The Stax sound: a musicological world fart analysis". Popular Music. 14 (3): 285–320. doi:10.1017/S0261143000007753. S2CID 162379706.
- ^ a b "The Soul You Know, The Music You Grew Up On". Stax 50. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008.
- ^ Lollar, Michael (September 27, 2006). "Get ready for some golden soul in 2007". Stax Museum. Archived from the original on May 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kingsley, James. "Fate, Luck, Stewart Combined for Memphis Sound". The Commercial Appeal, July 26, 1970
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 12
- ^ Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World - Google Books. A&C Black. 2003. ISBN 9780826463210. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
- ^ Billboard - Google Books. 1961-09-11. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (February 27, 2004). "Estelle Stewart Axton, 85, A Founder of Stax Records". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ a b Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 214.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 79–82.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 82.
- ^ Billboard - Google Books. 1966-08-20. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 141–142.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 151–152.
- ^ a b David Edwards; Mike Callahan (February 20, 2000). "The Atlantic Records Story". Both Sides Now Publications.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 174–176.
- ^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 1968-05-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-10-19 – via Internet Archive.
separate tables+ atlantic +.
- ^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 1968-05-18. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-10-19 – via Internet Archive.
stax + paramount.
- ^ Kingsley, James. "Key Officers Remain On Job As Stax-Volt Is Purchased". The Commercial Appeal, May 14, 1968
- ^ a b c d e f Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon, and Mark Crosby [directors, writers, producers] (2007). Great Performances - Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (TV documentary). New York City: Tremolo Productions, Concord Music Group, Thirteen/WNET New York.
- ^ Gordon, Robert (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 181–182.
- ^ "Stax Records co-founder Estelle Axton dies". USA Today. Associated Press. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. 1968-05-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-10-19 – via Internet Archive.
stax + atlantic.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (June 22, 1969). "Wholly and Solely About Soul". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ^ Callahan, Mike; Edwards, David (July 18, 1999). "Stax Album Discography, Part 2 (1968-1972)". Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
- ^ The Soul Children SoulExpress.net. retrieved 08 October 2021
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 186
- ^ "Events in Memphis - Elvis Presley News - Memphis, Tennessee". Elvis.com. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "Clive Davis: Information from". Answers.com. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ "Changes Made in CBS Guard". Billboard. June 18, 1966. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
- ^ "Let CBS Tell Its Own Ugly Story". New York Times News Service. June 22, 1973. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
Beginning what may be the second most massive cover-up of the past months, CBS fired its records division president, Clive Davis ...
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 317
- ^ "Stax Creditors File Bankruptcy Petition". The Commercial Appeal, December 20, 1975
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 370
- ^ Callahan, Mike; Edwards, David (July 18, 1999). "Stax/Volt Story". Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
- ^ Lollar, Michael. "Stax Ordered To Shut Down". The Commercial Appeal, January 13, 1976.
- ^ Lollar, Michael. "Bank Plans First Album to Aid Stax". The Commercial Appeal, December 17, 1975.
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 382-384
- ^ Billboard - Google Books. 1977-06-25. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 385
- ^ Pfenninger, Leslie J. "Rondor Music International History". Onamrecords.com. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
- ^ "Stax Label is Revived by Fantasy", The Commercial Appeal, October 23, 1977
- ^ Jet - Google Books. Johnson Publishing Company. 1978-01-19. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "History Of The Awards". Riaa.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
- ^ "Concord Music Reactivates Stax Records". Allaboutjazz.com. Archived from the original on 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "Labels". Concord Music Group. Archived from the original on 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "Labels". Concord Music Group. Archived from the original on 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "WATTSTAX (3-CD Deluxe Edition): Various Artists: Music". Amazon. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- ^ "Upcoming Guidance on "in Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul" | The White House". whitehouse.gov. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2013-07-13 – via National Archives.
- ^ "Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite Win Best Blues Album". Grammy.com. 2014-03-03.
- ^ "How Jimmy Fallon Helped Put Soul Sensations Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats on the Map". Billboard.com. 2015-09-21. Retrieved 2015-09-21.
- ^ Farber, Jim (20 May 2024). "'It became a beacon of hope': the incredible story of Stax Records". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Rufus Thomas: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ Montier, Patrick. "Johnnie Taylor". Staxrecords.free.fr. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville USA. p. 329
- ^ The Guardian, 21 Mar 2012 - Old music: Smith Perkins Smith – Say No More by Paul Nettleton
- ^ "Southern Avenue - Memphis Music - Official Site | Stax Records". Southernavenueband.com. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
References
[edit]- Rob Bowman (1997). Soulsville U.S.A: The Story of Stax Records. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 9780825672279.
- Robert Gordon (2013). Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 9781596915770.
- Peter Guralnick (1986). Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0-316-33273-9.
- Mark Ribowsky (2015). Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul. Liveright. ISBN 9780871408730.
- Arnold Shaw (1978). Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues. Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-061740-2.
External links
[edit]This section's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (February 2023) |
Official sites
[edit]Informational sites
[edit]- History of Stax
- The Stax Site—includes full Stax album and singles discographies
- Stax/Volt albums discographies by Both Sides Now Publications
- Stax/Satellite Discography by Global Dog Productions
- Stax Records discography at Discogs
Documentaries and interviews
[edit]- P.O.V. Wattstax companion website (featuring streaming audio of performances and a podcast interview with director Mel Stuart)
- Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story—PBS documentary on Stax and 2008 Grammy Award nominee for Best Long Form Video
- The Otis Redding French site
- MP3 audio interview with Stax Records expert Rob Bowman on the radio program The Sound of Young America
- Stax Records
- African-American cultural history
- American companies established in 1957
- Concord Music Group
- Gulf and Western Industries
- History of Memphis, Tennessee
- Record labels based in Memphis, Tennessee
- Record labels established in 1957
- Rhythm and blues record labels
- Soul music record labels
- Progressive rock record labels