I'd heard a lot of Motown and Stax when I was a kid, but the more well-known end of it. On Jam tours, we had a DJ called Ady Croasdell who ran a '60s club. He turned me on to underground stuff and what people call northern soul. It just blew my mind.
We need more Memphis culture in the industry.
Small Faces were really a soul band as far as we were concerned. That's what we listened to; that's what we played, you know? We were pretty much based on Booker T. and the M.G.'s.
For Black Music Month, I would definitely want to celebrate Isaac Hayes.
The only biography I read was about Al Bell, of Stax Records. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Al Bell.
It's been a rollercoaster ride. There have been some great moments and some low points... like when I was leaving Stax. That's when I actually thought of getting out of the business.
Yes; my brother Bobby used to distribute records at King Records. I had a job there, too, packing records up and shipping them off. But I always wanted to play sessions at Stax, so I figured out a way to do it.
The first record I bought was actually Booker T and the MG's 'Red Beans and Rice.'
I love Motown, but I've obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it's Stax or Motown, I go Stax.
I learned to play piano in a rock n' roll context or band context from country records - you know, Floyd Cramer - and from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Stax. And none of those are keyboard records.
I got the idea of what a band should be from listening to Booker T and Otis Redding.
