The Staple Singers

Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and... blues recordings. While Stax is renowned for its output of African-American music, the label was founded by two white businesspeople, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton and featured several popular ethnically-integrated bands, including the label's house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Following the death of Stax's biggest star, Otis Redding, in 1967 and the severance of the label's distribution deal with Atlantic Records in 1968, Stax continued primarily under the supervision of a new co-owner, Al Bell. Over the next five years, Bell expanded the label's operations significantly, in order to compete with Stax's main rival, Motown Records in Detroit. During the mid-1970s, a number of factors, including a problematic distribution deal with CBS Records, caused the label to slide into insolvency, resulting in its forced closure in late 1975.
more

Vee-Jay Records is a record label founded in the 1950s, specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. It was owned and operated by African Americans. Vee-Jay was founded in Gary, Indiana, in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a husband-and-wife team who used their... initials for the label’s name. Vivian's brother, Calvin Carter, was the label's A&R man. Ewart Abner, formerly of Chance Records, joined the label in 1955, first as manager, then as vice president, and ultimately, as president. Vee-Jay quickly became a major R&B label, with the first song recorded making it to the top ten on the national R&B charts. Major acts on the label in the 1950s included blues singers Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, and John Lee Hooker, and rhythm and blues vocal groups The Spaniels, The Dells, and El Dorados. The 1960s saw the label became a major soul label with Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Dee Clark, and Betty Everett putting records on both the R&B and pop charts.
more

For "United Records", see United Records United Records was in business from July 1951 to December 1957. It was operated by Chicago businessman Leonard Allen, initially in collaboration with Lew Simpkins. United issued records by such artists as Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, Gene Ammons, Memphis Slim,... Roosevelt Sykes, The Four Blazes, The Moroccos, Robert Anderson and The Staple Singers. In May 1952, United was joined by a sister label, States. United released 116 singles in a series that ran from 101 to 217, skipping 135 and 200. The company also released 2 10-inch LPs, but never got into 12-inch LPs. Tab Smith was by far United's biggest contributor. He laid down 85 tracks, releasing 24 singles and United's first LP. After the company closed, Savoy Records bought the masters by Gene Ammons and the Staple Singers. The rest of United's output was eventually acquired by Bob Koester of Delmark Records, which has made most of it available through LP and CD reissue programs. For a much earlier, unrelated company of the same name, see United Records .
more

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the... United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound. The blues genre is based on the blues form but possesses other characteristics such as specific lyrics, bass lines and instruments. Blues can be subdivided into several subgenres ranging from country to urban blues that were more or less popular during different periods of the 20th century. Best known are the Delta, Piedmont, Jump and Chicago blues styles.
more

Pop music is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop... music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular , whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities of mass appeal. As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format , as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks. So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, utilising electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth.
more