Places

Stax/Volt Records went into decline after the golden years and was declared bankrupt on December 19, 1975, finally closing down on January 12, 1976. Jim Stewart lost his house. The...

Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis in 1942, but grew up in Detroit, where her father, C.L. Franklin, was a minister at the New Bethel Baptist Church. As...

Charlie Reynolds had remained at the Flash Record store at 623, East Vernon Avenue, in Los Angeles after Leroy Hurte had given up his interest in the shop...

Arthur Conley grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where he joined a Gospel group, the Evening Smiles, at just twelve years of age. Soon after that, he formed an...

Jerry Wexler had a problem to solve in 1966, when Stax Records co-owner Jim Stewart decided to withdraw his invitation to Wilson Pickett to record at Stax, where...

Greg Reeves was a young musician, born in 1950, who came to Motown’s attention at the age of twelve. Reeves had grown up in Warren, Ohio, and had...

Ray Parker Jr. was the third guitarist to join Motown’s session musicians in the later years. He was born in Detroit in 1954 and took up the clarinet...

Melvin Ragin was usually credited under his pseudonym of Wah Wah Watson. Like Dennis Coffey, he brought an up-date to Motown’s original guitar sound. Ragin was born in...

Dennis Coffey was born in Detroit in 1940. His parents divorced in the mid-forties; Dennis and his sister were brought up by their mother. He took up the...

Gladys Knight & the Pips continued their rise through the ranks at Motown, with the release of two albums and four singles in the course of 1968. Following...