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17 unusual facts about Stax Records


Albert King discography

In 1966, he began an association with Stax Records, where he enjoyed his greatest commercial success with both singles and albums.

Barbara and the Browns

The song was released as a single on Wilmo Records, and after it became locally successful the master was leased to Stax Records.

Black Ensemble Theater Company

Among the recent productions are musicals celebrating Billie Holiday, Dionne Warwick, Teddy Pendergrass and Stax Records.

Brian and Michael

The duo had originally been members of a Stax-style soul band called The Big Sound, working mainly in Denmark, Sweden and Germany, but also touring Israel in 1967.

Fender Harvard

The most famous user of the Fender Harvard, in conjunction with a Telecaster guitar, was Steve Cropper, who said that he used the amp for most of the classic recordings made with the Stax house band Booker T. & The M.G.'s, including Green Onions and (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay.

Hold On, I'm Comin'

Hold On, I'm Comin' is the 1966 debut album by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam and Dave, issued on the Atlantic-distributed Stax label in 1966.

In August, 2007 soul singer Guy Sebastian recorded a tribute version of Hold On, I'm Comin at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee for his album of soul classics The Memphis Album with many of the original Stax music band members including Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, Lester Snell, and Steve Potts.

Stax Records was an old Movie Theater located at 926 East McLemore Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.

I've Been Loving You Too Long

"I've Been Loving You Too Long" is a stand-out track and was recorded to analogue tape live on the studio floor at Ardent Studios with many of the original Stax music band members, including Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, Lester Snell, Steve Potts (most of Booker T. & the MG's, though without Booker T himself) backing the vocals of Sebastian.

Marvell Thomas

He was the first piano player to punch the clock at Stax Records.

Memphis Jazz Box

The first set, produced in 2001, featured "Best Of. . ." tracks from Sun, Stax, and Hi Records.

Skin Alley

The third and fourth albums were issued in the U.S. by Stax Records.

This Is Seb Clarke

As a nod towards old Northern soul posters, 19960s Stax album cover designs and Spinal Tap, the band had begun to advertise itself, with tongue firmly in cheek, as “This Is Seb Clarke”.

Torn and Frayed

Janovitz continues, "The music comes as close to definitive country-rock or Stax-like country-soul as anything from the era, barring Gram Parsons — an immediate influence on the Stones."

Vintage musical equipment

Booker T. Jones famously played in on many recordings for Stax Records that helped define the sound of soul music in the 1960s that later musicians would want to achieve by adopting a Hammond of their own.

When Something Is Wrong with My Baby

"When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" is a classic hit song, a soul ballad, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, sung by Sam & Dave, and first released in 1967 by Stax Records.

You Got Me Hummin'

It was first popularized by Sam & Dave, who had a Top 10 R&B hit with the song in 1966 on Stax Records.


24-Carat Black

After working for smaller labels including Shrine, he was recruited by Stax Records where he arranged and orchestrated Isaac Hayes' albums Hot Buttered Soul, The Isaac Hayes Movement and ...To Be Continued.

Bellmark Records

It was formed in the late 1980s by Al Bell, who was one of the driving forces behind the legendary Stax Records.

Dave McAleer

He was one of the UK’s first club DJs (1963), before spending 25 years in the record business – working in A&R for labels including RCA Records, Pye Records, DJM Records, Stax Records, Chess Records, Disco Demand, Sugarhill, Calibre, Champagne, Hi, Solar, CTI Records, TMT and Buddah Records, and was managing director of Barry White's label, 20th Century Records.

Jackie Payne

The success of that single led to a 45-city tour with the Stax revue, which at the time featured headliners like Otis Redding (to whom Payne's voice has sometimes been compared), Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, and Carla Thomas.

Rufus and Carla

Rufus and Carla was the moniker Stax Records used when releasing duets by Rufus Thomas and daughter Carla Thomas.

The Dixie Nightingales

Three years later, Randle Catron brought the group to Stax Records, where new executive Al Bell had started a gospel subsidiary, Chalice Records.

Veda Brown

He won her a contract with Stax Records in 1971, and she took the stage name of Veda Brown — Brown being her mother's maiden name, and Veda being picked at random in a sweepstake organised by the Stax office secretaries.