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The Imperial Show Band led by Tim Whitsett, was a popular musical group in the United States during the 1960s. The group is regarded as the first integrated band in the state of Mississippi. [1]
In 1960, while still a student at Murrah High School in Jackson, Mississippi, Tim Whitsett formed a musical combo called "The Imperial Show Band". Whitsett and his band-mates sold Christmas cards to finance the group's first recording sessions. [2]
Along with his brother, Carson, and sister, Lucy, Tim continued to perform while a student at nearby Belhaven College. Tim was the manager and also played trumpet, harmonica, piano, organ and bass. Carson played organ, piano, French horn and trombone. Lucy played piano, organ and ukulele. [3]
In 1964, Hank Martin and Buzz Aldridge, both natives of Sumter, South Carolina joined the group. [4]
The band was signed to CBS Records in 1966 and recorded on the Epic Records label. Their first release under the contract was a "Sad Wing" and "Tia Maria," both written by Carson Whitsett. [5]
Tim Whitsett's first record "Jive Harp" b/w "Pipe Dreams" was released on Imperial Records when he was sixteen years old. Heavily influenced by the sounds of nearby New Orleans, Tim Whitsett & The Imperials would become the most popular band in their home state of Mississippi upon its release. They released dozens of R&B, pop, and instrumental records, usually written by Whitsett or co-written with his brother Carson, which were issued on a variety of labels, including Epic, Whitsett's own Rim, and the Jackson label-based Ace, whose president Johnny Vincent was a mentor to Whitsett on his music business. Some of these were sizeable local hits throughout the South and became popular when pirated in England. These 45s are now considered collectables, and Tim Whitsett records sell for very high prices on websites like eBay.[ citation needed ]
The band became one of the first integrated musical acts to gain notoriety in the 1960s. [6]
On the strength of Carson Whitsett's B-3 organ playing and the Tim Whitsett-led horn section, the group was asked to record for Stax Records (before there was a Booker T. & the MGs and "Green Onions") long before the company was a powerhouse. Later, Chips Moman asked the group to be his house band when he started his American Sound Studio. Tim Whitsett turned down both offers because he had his own label (Rim), publishing company (Gulfway), and the band was having their own success. Moman would hire session men like guitarist Reggie Young and record everyone from Wilson Pickett to Neil Diamond to Elvis Presley.
Whitsett changed the group's name to The Imperial Show Band, and the group began a successful tour of the country, which included stints in L.A., Lake Tahoe, New York, and a home away from home in Erie, Pennsylvania. With the addition of future southern soul cult figure Tommy Tate on vocals (and later drums as well), they became Tim Whitsett & The Imperial Show Band featuring Tommy Tate.
This was significant because other than Memphis's renowned Booker T. & the MGs (who were a house band first, usually regulated to working days and nights in the Stax studio), this made Whitsett's band one of the first, if not the only, integrated bands in the entire Southeastern United States at the time. Like a lot of white Southern musicians, the Whitsett brothers and their group were hugely influenced by two landmark albums: James Brown's Live at the Apollo and Bobby "Blue" Bland's Two Steps From the Blues. (Carson Whitsett would later play on several Bland albums, including his Live on Beale Street.) With the addition of Tate, they were more authentic than ever, and a force to be reckoned with. Also doing a brief stint with the band was Dorothy Moore of "Misty Blue" fame.
Following lineup changes, Whitsett disbanded the group. Soon afterwards, he received a call from Don Davis who was now Vice President of Stax Records. Davis had heard demos on the group, including Tim Whitsett's "Get It Over Anyway" on Tommy Tate that was released in 2005 on the CD Troubled Waters: Deep Soul from the Deep South. Davis wanted them to augment The Bar-Kays, as well as the remaining MGs (Booker T. Jones had left the company), as another house band for the label and its recently greatly expanded roster. Tim Whitsett and Tommy Tate signed on as songwriters and within a week, Whitsett was put in charge of publishing. Carson Whitsett would come to Stax three years later and record an album as a member of The MG's, and Tate replaced Ollie Hoskins as the lead singer of The Nightingales.
In 2008, Goldmine Magazine's Top 10 Auction Sale Prices for records recently bought by record collectors listed Tommy & The Derby's "Handy Andy" b/w "Don't Play The Role" on the Swing label in 1966 at number five selling for $3,116.00. This is actually The Imperial Show Band with Tommy Tate. If sales of albums are excluded, Tommy & The Derbys ranks No. 3 on the list of most expensive records sold recently.
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American instrumental, R&B, and funk band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962. The band is considered 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 Mar-Keys, the rotating slate of musicians that served as the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists including 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.
Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T & the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
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 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
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James Carson Whitsett was an American keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer.
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Tim Whitsett was an American music publisher, musician, songwriter, producer, author, and consultant. He was a founding member of the Imperial Show Band, a popular 1960s American musical group.
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"I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin. Released on Atlantic Records as the first big hit of her career and the lead single from her tenth studio album of the same name, it became a defining song for Franklin, peaking at number one on the rhythm and blues charts and number nine on the pop charts. The B-side was "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". Before this Franklin had placed only two Top 40 singles on the pop chart during her modest tenure with Columbia Records.
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Urgent! Records was an American record label owned by Tim Whitsett, based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, and distributed by the Atlanta-based Ichiban Records.
Soul Limbo is the seventh studio album by the American R&B band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in 1968 on Stax Records. The album was the first Stax LP issued after the label severed its ties with former distributor Atlantic Records in 1968.
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The Packers were an American soul group formed by tenor saxophonist Charles "Packy" Axton, who was the son of Stax Records part-owner Estelle Axton. Axton was a former member of The Mar-Keys, as was Steve Cropper, who played on the group's first recording and hit, ostensibly recorded as a 'demo'. Cropper, a member of Booker T. Jones & The MGs and the Stax Records' session band, was also joined by Booker T. on piano and drummer Al Jackson for the recording, while Leon Haywood was among those who also played on the group's records.
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