https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/06/stax-founder-jim-stewart-dead/
What a collection of talent – Otis
Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Booker
T. & The MG’s, Isaac Hayes, just to name a few. I loved this stuff when
I was growing up, and still do.
[T]he label
released more than 160 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and 243 on the
R&B chart, according to the Stax Museum. The company also became known as a
haven for racial integration in the segregated South: Black and White musicians
performed together in bands including the Bar-Kays and the M.G.’s while Mr.
Stewart, who was White, worked with Black business partners including Al Bell,
the company’s head of promotions, who eventually became co-owner.
“The spirit that came from Jim and
his sister Estelle Axton allowed all of us, Black and White, to … come into the
doors of Stax, where you had freedom, you had harmony, you had people working
together,” Bell said in an interview for “Respect Yourself.”
As 1963 was ending, just a few weeks after the Kennedy assassination, the top 10 for this week included:
ReplyDelete10. Rufus Thomas
9. Bobby Vinton
8. Dion
7. Beach Boys
6. Lenny Welch
5. Caravelles
4. Dale and Grace
3. Tommy Roe
2. Kingsmen
1. The Singing Nun
Little did we know that in two short months how much things would change. Certainly little did these artists know!
"Since I Fell For You" would be my favorite from those 10 -- best thing Lenny Welch ever did.
DeleteI do NOT remember Chubby Checker's Loddy Lo at #15.
Some favorites moving up:
#30 Have You Heard -- Duprees
#23 Quicksand -- Martha & The Vandellas
#45 Need To Belong -- Jerry Butler
#69 Out Of Limits -- Marketts
#96 Anyone Who Had A Heart -- Dionne Warwick
Loddy Lo was written about his wife, who had been a former Miss World, according to the host of the show.
DeleteI Want to Hold Your Hand first appears on Jan. 18 at #45. The next week (Jan. 25) it was at #3.
ReplyDeleteShe Loves You appears that same week at #69.
I used to listen to WFEC's Top 25 countdown fairly regularly. I remember one week in late 1965 when they had gotten from 25 to 2, and there didn't seem to be anything left to fill the #1 slot. Turns out that "Get Off My Cloud" made its local chart debut at the top.
DeleteI recall Rag Doll did the same on WABC in New York in 1964.
ReplyDelete