Little Milton honored for his music
(May 13, 2006)

(c) Patrick Montier, 2002

The late Little Milton was the big winner in the Blues Music Awards Thursday May 11 in the ballroom of Memphis Cook Convention Center. Born as Milton Campbell Jr., the singer who died last year was honored for album of the year and soul album of the year for Think of Me and for song of the year for that title track.

PHIL WALDEN DIED
(April 25, 2006)

Phil Walden, former manager of Otis Redding and Arthur Conley, among many others, died last sunday at 66 (photo: Otis Redding sitting with (standing left to right): Jimmy Hugues, Alan Walden, Phil Walden and Johnnie Taylor.

DON WILLIS DIED
(March 4, 2006)

Don Willis died on March 1st in Memphis at 73. Don recorded a hillbilly single on Satellite Records in 1957: Boppin' High School Baby / Warrior Sam (Satellite S-101 first serie). It made a local hit and was perhaps the reason why Jim Stewart kept on recording in his barber's garage at Orchi street in Memphis, then being able to create the mighty Stax Records some years later.

Our thoughts are with his family.

RON CAPONE PASSED.
(february 3, 2006)

Ron Capone, great Stax recording engineer, died on february 1, 2006 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Here are some words from Steve Cropper about his lost friend:

"Ron has to be one of the most talented ear quality engineers to ever position a microphone. Not only did he have a great heart, he was born with an inner time clock which is extremely hard to find. Al Jackson the drummer on all the great Stax hits had one too. With all due respect, there are a lot of great and talented people with tremendous amounts of success under their belt that don't have an inner clock and couldn't record a set of drums properly if you paid them a mil. a beat. Ron could sus out a room in ten minutes and know what to do with it. He knew how to record french horns, strings and all symphony instruments but the best thing he taught me was how to mike a Lesley speaker for a Hammond organ. I've been watching guys do it wrong for forty years. But like anything else, there are no absolute sets rules for recording. If something works, keep doing it.
As Al Jackson used to say "we're not going tech are we"? As far as I know, Ronnie never had an enemy and he never got mad or showed anger with any body or anything. That's the way I would like to remember one of the greatest friends I ever had. We made a lot of history together. It will out live both of us and time moves on. I guess Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett needed an engineer. guess Tom Dowd needs a little break.

This has been one hell of a january. I pray that february is a little softer on the ones who are still here. God bless Lou, Wilson, Ron and all my friends I've lost already this year.

Steve Cropper

PHILLIP RAULS' PHOTOBLOG
(February 2, 2006)

I cannot help praising Phillip Rauls' photoblog and his exclusive stories and photos fromthe days he worked at Stax, in the late 60's and early 70's. Here is a photo he shot himself at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969 with Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper. This photo has a story as Steve says that it is the one and only time he played this Gibson.guitar.

See it in larger size and more at http://phillipraulsphotolog.blogspot.com/

WILSON PICKETT R.I.P.
(January 19, 2006)

Wilson Pickett died of a heart attack on january 19, 2006. Among many other hits, he had recorded 9 wonderful tracks at Stax in 1965 with the Mar-Keys/MG's: 634-5789, In The Midnight Hour, 99 1/2 (Won't Do), Danger Zone, I'm Drifting, It's All Over, That's A Man's Way, Don't Fight It, I'm Not Tired.

RICHARD PRYOR DIES
(December 12, 2005)

Richard Pryor died at 65 in Los Angeles saturday, december 10, of a heart attack. Born in 1940 in Peoria, Ill, his wildly inventive, racially explosive, crudely and brilliantly expressed comic style is seen in such films as Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), and Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip(1982). He was signed under the Stax label in the early seventies and debuted his unique style of comedy during a movie produced by the local recording studio. Watts Staxwas a documentary that told the story of a benefit concert for the riot ravaged Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Pryor would go on to record another comedy album with the Stax label under the Partee subsidiary:

2404 - THAT NIGGER'S CRAZY - RICHARD PRYOR

I Hope I'm Funny/Nigger With A Seizure/Have Your Ass Home By 11:00/Black And White Life Styles/Exorcist/Wino Dealing With Dracula//Flying Saucers/The Back Down/Black Man-White Woman/Niggers Vs. Police/Wino And Junkie.

The Stax Museum plans to create a tribute to Pryor's Stax days with an exhibit.

RECORD ACADEMY HONORS
(November 2, 2005)

Larry Dodson (The Bar-Kays), Carla Thomas, Ruby Wilson, Isaac
Hayes, David Porter, Nashville singer Matt Morris and Justin Timberlake.

The inaugural event presented by the Memphis chapter of the Grammy-nominating organization, The Recording Academy, had a star-studded guest list that included Morgan Freeman, Lisa Marie Presley and Justin's guest, Cameron Diaz. They were treated to performances by Al Kapone and the Bo-Keys, Stax great William Bell, the Soul Children and Nashville singer Matt Morris.

<<< || >>>

INDEX -- NEWS -- INFOS -- STAX TODAY -- FOCUS -- ADS -- LISTS -- LINKS -- PHOTOS -- CONTACT

Little Milton honored for his music (May 13, 2006)

Little Milton honored for his music
(May 13, 2006)