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STAX
NEWS
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28
LADY
DEANIE PARKER RETIRES
(February
8, 2007)
Deanie
Parker (c) P. Montier
Soulsville - the nonprofit parent organization that operates the Stax Music Academy, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Soulsville Foundation, and The Soulsville Charter School - announced today that Soulsville Foundation President Deanie Parker will retire on December 31, 2007, after the conclusion of the 2007 celebration of the 50 th anniversary of the founding of Stax Records.
"After much deliberation and soul searching," Parker said, "I have decided to retire from Soulsville at the end of 2007. This timing will be optimal. The city will have wrapped up the 2007 international salute to 50 years of Memphis Soul music and, in partnership with Concord Records and the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, our organization will have completed the year-long 50th anniversary celebration of Stax Records and American soul music.
"I was fortunate to have been in the right time and the right place in 1963 when I became an employee of Stax Records. As the company's first and only Publicist, I was privileged to have played a part in the meteoric rise and success of the Stax era. Then I was honored in 1999 to have been selected to guide the revitalization efforts of Soulsville.
"In 2000, almost 25 years after the Stax recording studios were torn down, only an overgrown lot and a historical marker stood to recognize the amazing influence of Stax Records. Today, there exists the beautiful and incomparable Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Now there is also the Stax Music Academy and the Soulsville Charter School mentoring and teaching throngs of children who now have this incredible opportunity to carry on the legacy of Stax Records and lead rich, full lives as adults. On the same spot where history's greatest Soul music was created, the Stax legacy continues to thrive today in the hearts, voices, and instruments of a new generation. My dream has come true. Our vision has been magnified magnificently. And, my wish is for the Stax legacy to live on forever through Soulsville."
"Deanie Parker has been the voice for the entire revitalization efforts of Soulsville locally, nationally, and internationally, and it is hard to imagine that changing," said Soulsville Board of Directors Chairman Charles Ewing. "Fortunately, Deanie will not be retiring until the end of 2007 after the yearlong celebration of 50 years of soul and Stax. This also gives Soulsville CEO Marc Willis time to carefully plan the transition and gives us all ample time to show our appreciation for Deanie and all that she has done to make Soulsville what it is today."
During 2007 Ms. Parker will be involved with the special Stax 50th Anniversary initiatives, including the annual Staxadelic fund-raiser and the "Disciples of Stax" program designed to solicit recording artists and entertainment personalities and organizations from around the world to donate $50,000 each to Soulsville. She will also serve as the Soulsville Board of Directors' representative for the Stax 50 th events and remain a member of the board after her retirement.
Soulsville CEO Marc Willis will assume the fund-raising efforts of the Soulsville Foundation, including annual fund giving, corporate giving, sponsorships, and other initiatives.
"Deanie has taught me many things in our time together," said Mr. Willis. "She has been the voice and soul of this organization and our efforts since their inception and her legacy will remain with the organization forever."
"From the bottom of my heart I wish to thank my former Stax Records artists and employees, the Soulsville Board of Directors and Soulsville employees, donors, and everyone else who has supported this mission and our vision for Soulsville." Parker said. "With the success of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School, I have been blessed to play a part in this transformation."
A MESSAGE FROM DEANIE PARKER
By now you may have already heard the news--after much deliberation and "soul" searching, I have decided that at the end of 2007, the time will be right for me to retire from Soulsville. The Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau will have wrapped up its year-long international salute to Memphis soul, and in our partnership with Concord Music Group, Soulsville will have completed its 50th Anniversary celebration of Stax Records.
I was fortunate to have been in the right time and the right place in 1963 when I became an employee of Stax Records. As the company's first and only Publicist, I was fortunate to have played a part in the meteoric rise and success of the Stax era. I was honored in1999 to have been selected to guide the revitalization efforts of Soulsville. Now, I am looking forward to the future and pursuing new interests.
Almost 25 years after the Stax recording studios were torn down, only an overgrown lot and a historical marker stood to recognize the amazing influence of "the Memphis sound." Today, there exists the beautiful and incomparable Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Next door, the StaxMusic Academy and The Soulsville Charter School are mentoring and inspiring hundreds of at-risk youth every year. On the same spot where so much Memphis soul history was made, the values and philosophy that made Stax famous are being passed forward in the hearts and voices of a new generation.
I hope that I will see you at our upcoming "Staxtacular '07" fundraiser to benefit the programs of the Stax Music Academy. It's one of the biggest, baddest parties we'll throw all year long, and I do hope you'll "get down" to the Stax Museum on February 24 and join us in the celebration. You should visit www.Staxtacular.com for more information and call 901 261 6385 to buy your tickets. Please don't delay--they're going quickly!
It has been a blessing to have been with Stax Records, and now Soulsville, for so long. Both of these organizations will always be close to my heart, and I hope that Soulsville can continue to count on your support now, next year, and in the future. Please stay tuned for more news about the many exciting exhibits, concerts, and special programs which we will be producing to commemorate this soulful jubilee year!
Thank you so much -- I hope to see you at the Stax Museum soon!
Sincerely Deanie Parker |
FIRST
2007 STAX PREVIEWS
(January
2, 2007)
Stax tape
vaults (c) Patrick Montier
Among the new
scheduled CDs, a Best Of double CD package followed
by re-issued and re-mastered classics from Booker T and the MGs
and Steve Cropper and never before released live albums by
Johnnie Taylor and Isaac Hayes, culminating with a Stax Christmas
album and a special Secret box set containing all
previously unreleased demos and publishers tapes.
2007 will also see to premiere of Respect Yourself the
Stax Record Story a feature length documentary from famed
documentary makers Robert Gordon, Mark Crosby and award winner
Morgan Neville. Respect Yourself will include never before seen
footage including home movies by Stax artists, Otis Reddings
last ever performance, interviews with Stax artists and employees
as well as Jesse Jackson, Elvis Costello, Bono, Chuck D, Pete
Townsend, Dan Akroyd and Justin Timberlake, with The Stax Museum
of American Soul Music serving as the back drop.
An european Stax
tour is also possible and many other goodees...
BOOKER
T. & THE MG's, ESTELLE AXTON
TO BE HONORED AT 2007 GRAMMYS
(December 22, 2006)
Business Wire,
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Recipients of the 2007
Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY®
Award were announced today by The Recording Academy®. Joan Baez,
Booker T. & The MGs, Maria Callas, Ornette Coleman, the
Doors, the Grateful Dead and Bob Wills will receive The Recording
Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. Estelle Axton, Cosimo Matassa
and Stephen Sondheim will be honored with The Academys
Trustees Award. David M. Smith and Yamaha Corporation have been
named recipients of the Technical GRAMMY Award.
"This years group of accomplished honorees are as
diverse as they are influential as creators of the most renowned
and prominent recordings in the world," said Recording
Academy President Neil Portnow. "Their contributions
exemplify the highest artistic and technical standards that have
positively affected the music industry and music fans."
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic
contributions to the recording medium while the Trustees Award
recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing
capacity. Both awards are decided by vote of The Recording
Academys National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award
recipients are determined by The Academys Producers &
Engineers Wing members and The Academys Trustees. The award
is presented to individuals and companies who have made
contributions of outstanding technical significance to the
recording field.
Formal acknowledgment of these special merit awards will be made
at an invitation-only ceremony during GRAMMY Week, as well as
during the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held at
STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, and
broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.
Among Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees:
Booker T. & The MGs (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck"
Dunn, (a)Al Jackson, Booker T. Jones, and Lewie Steinberg)
As the house band at Stax Records in Memphis, Booker T. & The
MGs had tight, impeccable grooves that can be heard on
classic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Carla Thomas, to
name a few. They also were one of the top instrumental outfits of
the rock era, recording classics including "Green Onions,"
"Time Is Tight," and "Hang Em High." As
a band that featured two blacks and two whites playing as a
cohesive group in the highly-charged south of the 60s, they
set an example of how music can transcend social ills.
Among Trustees Award Honorees:
Estelle Axton As co-founder of the legendary Stax Records
home to Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Isaac Hayes
Estelle Axton was known as "Lady A" to the
artists who recorded for her. Stax was widely renowned as the
premier label in the rich history of Memphis music.
During the turbulent 60s, Stax brought together black and
white musicians who collaborated, creating the distinctive Stax
soul sound which is recognized worldwide today. Axtons
influence as a mentor and facilitator was crucial to the
development of the Stax stable of artists and songwriters and
their role in generating a defining sound in American music in
the 60s and 70s.
Established in 1957, the National Academy of Recording Arts &
Sciences, Inc., also known as The Recording Academy, is an
organization of musicians, producers, engineers, and recording
professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural
condition and quality of life for music and its makers.
Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording
Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional
development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human
services programs including the creation of the national
public education campaign Whats The Download® (WhatsTheDownload.com).
For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com
AHMET
ERTEGUN, FOUNDER OF ATLANTIC RECORDS, DIED
(December 15, 2006)
Ahmet Ertegun,
Founding Chairman of Atlantic Records, passed away on December 14,
2006 in New York City at the age of 83. He had been hospitalized
with a head injury since October 29th, when he fell backstage at
a Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. He
was one of the first recording executives to sell music by black
artists towhite youngsters looking for something exciting in the
conformist Eisenhower eraof the 1950s, and in so doing, he helped
pioneer rock 'n' roll. Recordings bysophisticated urban singers
such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker and the Clovers,struck more of a
chord with mainstream buyers than the raw blues emanating
fromChicago.
From gospel, blues and jazz emerged R&B and rock & roll,
the mostpopular music of all time," Ertegun wrote in 1997.
"No music of anyother country travels worldwide. Thanks to
Black America for our great artform."
Atlantic solidified its status as the dominant label of its time
when it partnered in the 1960s with Memphis-based Stax Records to
bring southern soulmusicians such as Redding, Sam & Dave,
Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & theMG's to worldwide fame.
A
COMPLETE STORY OF ARDENT RECORDS
(November
3, 2006)
Ardent studios
(c) Joe Pusateri.
Read
a very complete article about Ardent Records and their importat
links with Stax in this week's Memphis Flyer at http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A20913
JOE
SHAMWELL R.I.P.
(October
21, 2006)
Joe Shamwell (far
right). Stax studio.
(behind Isaac Hayes and David Porter)
Joe Shamwell, great Stax producer and composer in the late 60's and early 70's died October 17, 2006 in Washington.
JOHNNY
JENKINS DIED
(June
30, 2006)
Guitarist
Johnny Jenkins, the man who brought Otis Redding to Stax
died on Sunday, June 25 in Macon at age 67, after a recent stroke.
(c) Patrick
Montier, 2002
Isaac Hayes and
his wife are the parents of a baby boy, the couple announced
Tuesday 15. Nana Kwadjo Hayes was born April 10 and weighed 8
pounds, 5 ounces, spokesman Rob Moore said.
In the Ghanaian language, Nana means "King," and Kwadjo
(pronounced "Kwo-Jo") means "boy born on Monday."
In 1992, Hayes was coronated an honorary king of the Ada district
of Ghana for his humanitarian work. Kwadjo is Hayes' fourth son
and the first with wife Adjowa.
A long and happy life to the new "Son of Shaft"!
INDEX -- NEWS -- INFOS -- STAX TODAY -- FOCUS -- ADS -- LISTS -- LINKS -- PHOTOS -- CONTACT