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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZTHOMAS, Rufus and CarlaSoul stars of the '60s whose hits helped get the the Stax label off the ground, sparking off a golden age of popular music. Rufus (b 26 March 1917, in Casey Mississippi; d 14 December 2001, in Memphis Tennessee) was in high school in Memphis when he joined a teacher as second banana in a comedy act at a local theatre, and worked in show business until he married in 1940. He continued part-time as a theatre MC and a disc jockey on WDIA, where B.B. King was another disc jockey and Jim Stewart (later co-founder of Stax) played fiddle in a country band. Rufus's 'Bear Cat' was a number three R&B hit '53: the answer to Big Mama Thornton's 'Hound Dog' was the first national hit for Sam Phillips's Sun label, but there was a lawsuit over the tunes' similarities and Elvis Presley soon changed the label's direction. Daughter Carla (b 21 December 1942, Memphis) had years of experience in a local group, the Teen Town Singers; she was about to enter college when they recorded an up-tempo duet 'Cause I Love You' in 1960 for Satellite, backed by Carla's brother Marvell on organ, Booker T on baritone sax, Steve Cropper on guitar and Robert Talley on piano. The local hit led to Atlantic making a distribution deal with Satellite, which became Stax after Carla's 'Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)' made the pop top ten, top five R&B '61. Carla had 15 Hot 100 entries '61-9 (the first six on Atlantic), an almost identical list on the R&B chart. Her albums included King And Queen with Otis Redding. Rufus re-entered the R&B chart ten years after his first hit, having ten more there and nine in the Hot 100 '63-71, all dance novelties; he described himself as 'the world's oldest teenager'. 'Walking The Dog' was a top ten pop hit '63 (covered by the Rolling Stones on their first album) followed by 'Can Your Monkey Do The Dog' ('Do The Monkey' was King Curtis's dance hit '63), 'Do The Funky Chicken', the 'Push And Pull', 'The Breakdown', 'Do The Funky Penguin'. When Stax went broke the Rufuses remained popular in local clubs; he released That Woman Is Poison '88 on Alligator, then Blues Thang '96 (including Charlie Rich's 'Don't Put No Headstone On My Grave'). He toured England at age 79. Both had compilations on Stax and Rhino; Chronicle on Stax compiled tracks by both; Rufus's Live! '70, Carla's Carla, Comfort Me, and Memphis Queen '66-9 have all been reissued on CD. In 2005, more than three years after Rufus's death, tracks made in the Sun studios in 1990 were issued as Just Because I'm Leavin… on a Segue label: another daughter, Veneese, cut through all the legal issues and red tape to present a last set of Memphis soul by one of the people who'd started it all.
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