Free Republic

The soul man from Crawfordsville, Arkansas rang up his 14th soul chart entry, from an impressive total of 43.Early in 1971, Johnnie Taylor was in the middle of his heyday at Stax Records, flying as high as the label itself. On February 20 that year, one Stax hit replaced another at the top of the Billboard R&B list. Johnnie achieved his second No. 1 with “Jody’s Got Your Girl And Gone” and, in the process, replaced Rufus Thomas’ “Do The Push and Pull” at the peak. Taylor had topped the R&B survey in 1968 with the Top 5 US pop...

‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,’ co-written with his great friend Steve Cropper, was released on January 8, 1968, a month after Otis’ death at just 26.It’s a cruel twist in an already tragic story that the biggest song in Otis Redding’s entire catalog is the one that he never saw become a crossover anthem. His posthumous No.1 “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,” co-written with his great friend Steve Cropper, was released on January 8, 1968, a month after his death in a plane crash at the age of just 26. Of course, it was partly the...

Stewart, a fearless champion of racial integration in soul music, was described by the Stax Museum as ‘an architect of the Memphis Sound.’Jim Stewart, the co-founder of Stax Records, died yesterday (5) at the age of 92. His passing was confirmed by another storied member of the Stax family, hit songwriter David Porter. Stewart paved the way for, and presided over, the immense and worldwide popularity of Stax and its wealth of household soul names. His standing was reflected in his 2002 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by representatives of two of the company’s most celebrated...

If you’ve ever heard anything on the Stax Records label, then you’ve probably heard Steve Cropper's masterful guitar playing. He might well have written and produced it too The guitarist with Booker T. & The M.G.’s, Stax Records’ house band, Steve Cropper backed scores of soul greats during the 60s as well as being a go-to producer. He’s also a songwriter whose compositions include classics such as Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour, Eddie Floyd’s Knock On Wood and Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. He has also done studio work with John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Roy...

In roughly 15 months, Wilson Pickett helped shape the history of recording in America. In 1965 and 1966, Pickett, one of the most dynamic R&B singers of all time, traveled to Stax Records in Memphis and FAME Recording in Muscle Shoals where he cut a series of classic hits at each studio. In the process — between his supreme talent and pugnacious personality — Pickett helped determine the fate and future of each company, as they became twin pillars of Southern soul and pop music in the coming years. Stax’s success with Pickett validated and emboldened the small company as...

Donald “Duck” Dunn, the bassist who helped create the gritty Memphis soul sound at Stax Records in the 1960s as part of the legendary group Booker T. and the MGs and contributed to such classics as “In the Midnight Hour,” ‘’Hold On, I’m Coming” and “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay,” died Sunday at 70. Dunn, whose legacy as one of the most respected session musicians in the business also included work with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s Blues Brothers as well as with Levon Helm, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, died while on tour in Tokyo....

According to Steve Cropper facebook, "Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live. Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club." Booker T and MGs, Blues Bros

Barack Obama loves Chicago music, and it shows: In his speeches, he echoes the ideals — hope, tolerance, determination — heard in the songs of such local greats as Sam Cooke, the Staple Singers and Curtis Mayfield President-elect Barack Obama paid homage to Chicago soul in his Grant Park acceptance speech. He riffed on Wendell Phillips High graduate Sam Cooke by saying, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” This clearly expands on Cooke’s 1963 hit “A Change Is Gonna Come.” But...