Booker T. & the M.G.'s are an instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, including the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of its era. By the mid-1960s, bands on both sides of the Atlantic were trying to sound like Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
Green Onions is the debut album by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in October 1962. It reached number 33 on the pop album chart in the month of its release. The title single had been a hit worldwide and was covered by dozens of artists, including the Blues Brothers and Roy Buchanan, as well as The Ventures, Al Kooper, The Shadows, Mongo Santamaría and Count Basie.
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. 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, funk, and blues recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton. It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands and a racially integrated team of staff and artists unprecedented in that time of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South.
Steven Lee Cropper, also known as "Steve "The Colonel" Cropper", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
Don Nix is an American songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "obscure", he is a key figure in several genres of Southern rock and soul, R&B, and the blues. He was instrumental in the creation of the distinctive "Memphis soul" sound developed at Stax Records.
Albert Nelson, known by his stage name Albert King, was an American blues guitarist and singer whose playing influenced many other blues guitarists. He is perhaps best known for the popular and influential album Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) and its title track.
Albert J. Jackson Jr. was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their own instrumentals. Jackson was affectionately dubbed "The Human Timekeeper" for his drumming ability. He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
Donald "Duck" Dunn was an American bass guitarist, session musician, record producer, and songwriter. Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.'s and as a session bassist for Stax Records. At Stax, Dunn played on thousands of records, including hits by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Elvis Presley and many others. In 1992, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He is ranked number 40 on Bass Player magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time".
The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound.
Edward Lee Floyd is an American soul-R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s including the number 1 R&B hit song "Knock on Wood".
Born Under a Bad Sign is the second studio album by Albert King, released in 1967. The album became "one of the most popular and influential blues albums of the late '60s" and has been acknowledged by the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, and Rolling Stone magazine.
Anthony Cornelius Hamilton is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame with his platinum-selling second studio album Comin' from Where I'm From (2003), which featured the title track single "Comin' from Where I'm From" and the follow-up "Charlene". Nominated for 17 Grammy Awards, he is also known for the song "Freedom" from the soundtrack album of Django Unchained co-written and sung as a duo with indie soul singer Elayna Boynton.
The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, simply referred to as Soul Ballads or Sings Soul Ballads, is the second studio album by American soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding, released in 1965. The album was one of the first issued by Volt Records, a sub-label of Stax Records, and Redding's first on the new label. Like Redding's debut Pain in My Heart (1964), Soul Ballads features both soul classics and originals written by Redding and other Stax Records recording artists. The recording sessions took place at the Stax studios in Memphis. The album features a stereo mixer made by engineer Tom Dowd, replacing the early mono mixer.
Hip Hug-Her is the fifth studio album by the Southern soul band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in June 1967. The title track was the band's most successful single since their debut, "Green Onions" while their cover of the Young Rascals song "Groovin'" was also a hit. The album was their last to be produced by Stax co-founder Jim Stewart, because the band started to produce themselves starting with Doin' Our Thing.
Melting Pot is a 1971 studio album recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s for Stax Records. It is the last album to feature the group's classic lineup of Jones, Cropper, Dunn, and Jackson and the first of their albums to contain longer, jam-oriented compositions.
Hold On, I'm Comin' is the 1966 debut album by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave, issued on the Atlantic-distributed Stax label in 1966.
Gary Lee Clark Jr. is an American musician from Austin, Texas. He is best known for his fusion of blues, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop. In 2011 Clark signed with Warner Bros Records and released The Bright Lights EP. It was followed by the albums Blak and Blu (2012) and The Story of Sonny Boy Slim (2015). Throughout his career Clark has been a prolific live performer, which has been documented in two releases; Gary Clark Jr. Live (2014) and Gary Clark Jr Live/North America (2017). He has shared the stage with Eric Clapton, B.B. King and the Rolling Stones. His new album This Land is due to be released on March 1, 2019. In 2014, Clark was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B performance for the song "Please Come Home", while the year before he had been nominated for "Ain't Messin Round".
IV Play is the fifth studio album by American recording artist The-Dream. The album was released on May 28, 2013, by Radio Killa Records and Def Jam Recordings. It features guest appearances from Jay-Z, Big Sean, Beyoncé, Pusha T, 2 Chainz, Kelly Rowland, Gary Clark Jr. and Fabolous. IV Play is an R&B album with overtly sexual themes.
Soul Finger is the debut album of the Bar-Kays, issued three months after the single of the same name. It was recorded by Tom Dowd and Chris Huston on Friday, June 23, 1967, at the Stax studio in Memphis. Though all but one member of the group were black, the album cover art, by Loring Eutemey, suggests an interracial pop music party feeling. The instrumental band, after being signed in early 1967, was tutored by Al Jackson, Jr. and the other members of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which shows in the tightness of the rhythm section. That summer they also were selected by Otis Redding as his new backup band.
