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James Alexander (born December 17, 1948) is an American soul and R&B musician. He is a longtime member of the band the Bar-Kays, for which he plays bass guitar.
Alexander was born at McLemore Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. In a 2014 interview, he stated that the clinic was across the street from Stax Records' headquarters, and that he grew up about a block away from Stax. [1] Alexander attended Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis. [2]
He is the father of noted hip-hop and R&B producer Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, whom he named after his best friend and late Bar-Kays bandmate Phalon Jones. Contrary to widespread belief, James Alexander's relationship, which produced his son Phalon, was not with R&B and gospel singer Deniece "Niecy" Williams, but rather with another woman (herself an experienced singer) named Denise Williams. [3]
James Alexander was the bassist for the Bar-Kays when four of the six band members, including Jones, were killed in the same plane crash that claimed the life of soul singer Otis Redding. Alexander was the only Bar-Kays member not aboard that flight. According to a 2014 news article, before the plane departed, Alexander volunteered to return the band's rental car and take a commercial flight to the band's next engagement. [4] Other accounts state that the plane, a Beechcraft owned by Redding, only held eight occupants (Redding, five of the Bar-Kays, the pilot and Redding's road manager), and that it was Alexander's turn in the rotation to board a commercial flight to the next destination.[ citation needed ] Alexander had the task of identifying the bodies of his bandmates, as well as that of Redding.[ citation needed ]
After the crash, Ben Cauley, the sole survivor among those who were aboard the plane, worked with Alexander to reform the band. [5] Subsequent work included the soundtrack recording of the Academy Award-winning theme song from the 1971 feature film Shaft , on which Alexander played bass guitar.[ citation needed ]
As of 2018, Alexander was the only original member performing in the still-active Bar-Kays. [6]
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American 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 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.
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, serving as both an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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.
Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, guitar, bass, and a driving beat on the drums.
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, Bill Withers, 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. In 2017, he was ranked 40th on Bass Player magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time".
The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" in 1967, "Son of Shaft" in 1972, and "Boogie Body Land" in 1980.
Mary Frierson, later Mary Cross, better known by her stage name of Wendy Rene, was an American soul singer and songwriter. She recorded for Stax Records in the mid 1960s.
South Memphis, one of the oldest portions of Memphis, Tennessee, is a community stretching from Riverside Drive & E. H. Crump Blvd just south of Downtown all the way to Ketchum Rd & Pendleton St, south of Orange Mound & north of Memphis International Airport. In its early days, it was primarily an agrarian community. South Memphis has many well-known neighborhoods including Lauderdale Sub, Longview, Riverside, Lakeview Gardens, Prospect Park, Dukestown, Gaslight Square, Wilbert Heights, Mallory Heights, Dixie Heights, Barton Heights, Elliston Heights, Handy Holiday, Chickasaw Village, Pine Hill, Indian Hills, Bunker Hill, Westwood, Boxtown, West Junction, Walker Homes, Coro Lake, Nehemiah, and French Fort. Many of these neighborhoods are considered home to many famous hip hop/R&B singers and rappers. Many locations in South Memphis are also considered a hotbed for crime and violence due to the high amount of gang influence and the overall poverty level of the area. But South Memphis is known for its plentiful houses of worship including Mt. Vernon Baptist Church Westwood, St. Andrew AME Church, Washington Chapel CME Church, East Trigg Baptist Church, White's Chapel AME Church, Union Valley Baptist Church, Enon Springs Baptist Church, Warner Temple AME Zion Church, Unity Baptist Church, Ford's Chapel AME Zion Church, St. Augustine Catholic Church, and Monumental Baptist Church, just naming a few.
The Soul Children was an American vocal group who recorded soul music for Stax Records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They had three top 10 hits on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart – "The Sweeter He Is" (1969), "Hearsay" (1972), and "I'll Be the Other Woman" (1973) – all of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100.
Ronald Louis Caldwell was an American soul and R&B musician.
Phalon R. Jones, Jr. was an American soul and R&B musician. Jones was a saxophonist for musical group the Bar-Kays, which recorded with and also played backup for Otis Redding. Jones and three other members of the Bar-Kays, their valet Matthew Kelly and the pilot Richard Fraser died along with Redding in a plane crash in Lake Monona while on their way to a performance in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ben S. Cauley Jr. was an American trumpet player, vocalist, songwriter, and founding member of the Stax recording group the Bar-Kays. He was the only survivor of the 1967 plane crash that claimed the lives of soul singer Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays.
James Frank Stewart was an American record producer and executive who in 1957 co-founded, with his sister Estelle, Stax Records, one of the leading recording companies during soul and R&B music's heyday. The label also scored many hits on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart, and internationally, during this time.
Blair Cunningham is an American drummer who has played for many bands and artists including Denise LaSalle, Robert Johnson, the Detroit Emeralds, Frederick Knight, Echo & the Bunnymen, Haircut One Hundred, John Foxx, The Pretenders, Paul McCartney, Alison Moyet, Sade, Paul Rutherford, Indigo Girls, Roxy Music, Tina Turner, Lionel Richie, Mick Jagger, Ray Davis, Andy Taylor, Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Kevin Rowland and the Big Dish. He played drums at a one-off gig by Sharks, and on "All Things Are Nice" and "My Baby" from Blancmange's album Mange Tout.
John Colbert, known professionally as J. Blackfoot, was an American soul singer. A member of The Soul Children in the late 1960s and 1970s, he subsequently had a moderately successful solo career. His biggest hit was "Taxi", which reached the charts in both the US and UK in 1984.
Phalon Anton Alexander, professionally known as Jazze Pha, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper. He founded the record label Sho'nuff Records in 1995, through which he signed R&B singer Ciara in 2003. He produced her 2004 single "1, 2 Step," which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 as he served as the executive producer for its parent album, Goodies (2004). Released in a joint venture with LaFace Records, the album was met with critical and commercial success, although she parted ways with Sho'nuff shortly after.
Wayne Lamar Jackson was an American soul and R&B musician, playing the trumpet in The Mar-Keys, in the house band at Stax Records and later as one of The Memphis Horns, described as "arguably the greatest soul horn section ever".
The Bo-Keys are a soul jazz band from Memphis, Tennessee, formed as an homage to the city's rich musical tradition.
Otis Ray Redding Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Nicknamed the "King of Soul", Redding's style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s.
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.
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