On Wed, 7 Dec 2022 06:31:19 -0500, DianeE <
DianeE@NoSpam.net> wrote:
Co-founder of Stax Records (the "St" in Stax) has died at 92. (Might be
93, I just heard this on the radio while half asleep.)
Yes its made the news here too
From "The Guardian" newspaper London
Jim Stewart, founder of influential southern soul label Stax Records,
has died aged 92. Stax confirmed the news on social media this
morning, writing that Stewart “passed away peacefully earlier today,
surrounded by his family”.
As the founder of Stax, Stewart was responsible for signing and
nurturing the careers of many of soul and R&B’s most influential
figures, including Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Albert King and the
Bar-Kays.
He began Stax as Satellite Records in 1957; originally a country
fiddle player, Stewart founded Satellite as a country and rockabilly
label before pivoting almost exclusively to R&B. Stewart likened his introduction to Black music as “like a blind man who suddenly gained
his sight”. Based in segregation-era Tennessee, Stax was a rarity in
that it had a mixed-race staff and sought to uplift its Black
employees as much as its white ones.
Stax found great success through the 60s with a unique recording model
that utilised an in-house band as opposed to hired-gun session
musicians. Stax’s recording studio was a converted movie theatre in
Memphis, a unique environment that created a distinctive, bass-heavy
“Stax sound”. This, combined with major-label distribution through
Atlantic Records, meant that Stax was responsible for dozens of
Billboard hit singles in its first decade.
As the 60s drew to a close, Stax faced significant operational
troubles. In 1967, Atlantic was acquired by Warner Bros, and Stax was
not made part of the deal; regardless, Atlantic retained rights to all
Stax records masters, massively devaluing Stax as a label. Still,
Stewart and Stax found some success in its post-Atlantic years,
signing Johnnie Taylor and the Staple Singers.
In 1976, Stax went bankrupt, and Stewart lost much of the money he had
made over the previous two decades. In the ensuing years, he largely
retreated from the public eye, declining to attend his induction into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and only occasionally making
public appearances, save for a 2018 event during which he was honoured
at the Stax museum. He is survived by three children and two
grandchildren.
ROGER FORD
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