CASTING/CREW

JOHNNIE TAYLOR the musical phenomenon who changed the aspect of R&B genre with Who's Making Love", reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

AL Bell. owner of Stax records from 1967-1976 who struggles to keep the company afloat because of racism and jealousy of industry powerhouses.  Taylor signed to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul" While producing hits and touring The Chitlin' Circuit an informal, sprawling network of Black-owned clubs, auditoriums, and juke joints where performers regularly crossed boundaries between gospel, blues, R&B, and jazz such as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin singing hard gospel in traveling quartets that relied on this circuit. Famed gospel icons like Mahalia Jackson and groups like The Caravans performed within these same venue ecosystems alongside secular acts. JT  trying to balance career as an ordained minister and soul superstar among pimps and hustlers. and marriage to Harriet and Gerlean. while Stax Records founded by siblings, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, whose last names formed the basis of the label's name (Stewart + Axton = "Stax"). faced racial bias because of integrated staff and artists behind the label's house band, Booker T. & the M.G. 's which was unprecedented during an era of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South. Stax Records had to realign itself after rising phenomenon Otis Redding passed away along with the distribution deal with Atlantic Records in 1968. Earnestine Mitchell and Hazel Jones converted the café into an upscale brothel and had a party with Al Bell, JT, Andrew "Sunbeam" Mitchell, one of Memphis's most legendary Black promoters and entrepreneurs when they hear the news and all in total shock. The sale of Atlantic to Warner activated a "key man" clause (which Jim Stewart had insisted upon) in the distribution contract between Stax and Atlantic. This called for the renegotiation or termination of the distribution deal in the event that Stewart's nominated "key man" at Atlantic—Jerry Wexler—either left the company or sold his stock in Atlantic. Stewart regarded his original deal with Wexler as a gentleman's agreement, and when the distribution arrangement was formalized with a contract in 1965, he had signed it without reading it, thus missing the fateful ownership clause Al Bell became co-owner of Stax Records in 1967 and expanded Stax Records in national markets in order to compete with Motown Records in the mid 1970s.​ Stax Records folded in 1975 caused by loss of distribution deal with CBS Records. JT headlined the Wattstax benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, 1972. The concert's performers included all of Stax's prominent artists at the time. The genres of the songs performed included soul, gospel, R&B, blues, funk, and jazz. Months after the festival, Stax released a double LP of the concert's highlights, Wattstax: The Living Word. The concert was filmed by David L. Wolper's film crew and was made into the 1973 film titled Wattstax. The film was directed by Mel Stuart and nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Documentary Film in 1974.  Earnestine & Hazel's (531 S. Main St.): Originally built as a church and then a pharmacy, was eventually given to Black hair stylists Earnestine Mitchell and Hazel Jones. They converted it into a café and upscale brothel. Earnestine was married to Andrew "Sunbeam" Mitchell, one of Memphis's most legendary Black promoters and entrepreneurs. He owned the Mitchell Hotel (which was closely associated with or operated within the same sphere as the Main Street property) as well as iconic Black music venues like Club Paradise. Because of Sunbeam’s bookings, music icons like B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, and Bo Diddley would play at his main clubs and then head over to Earnestine & Hazel’s to eat soul food, drink, gamble, jam, and stay upstairs. It was only two blocks from Lorraine Motel (where Black travelers and musicians safely lodged), this small patch of the South Main District served as an important late-night epicenter for Black nightlife outside the primary Beale Street corridor. ​MLK and Mahalia at juke joint in Memphis Tenn​  Jim, Estelle and Al Bell fly to New York hoping to negotiate a deal, but Atlantic is trying to low ball them and Jim's screaming at Atlantic's lawyer Paul Marshall the deal was "an insult" after hearing the 1965 distribution contract that he signed gave Atlantic all right, title and interest, including any rights of reproduction, in all Stax's Atlantic-distributed recordings between 1960 and 1967. A 1965 distribution contract typically refers to legal agreements from that era governing how products, films, or recordings were marketed and sold by a third party. The Stax contract defined the exact geographic regions and exclusive or non-exclusive rights granted to the distributor. Outlined royalties, commission percentages, advances, and the handling of distribution expenses. Set the active license period or term length for commercial exploitation of the asset. 

 Many members of the Stax staff regularly met and ate at the Lorraine Motel  where Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd had written "Knock on Wood". 

Scene 8 Bell launched an initiative designed to put out enough albums and singles in an effort to rebuild a catalog for Stax. New signees included gospel stars the Staple Singers as well as newcomers the Emotions and the Soul Children. Bell notably scheduled twenty-seven albums for near-simultaneous release in mid-1969 and produced much of the material himself. Stewart then approached Warner-Seven Arts directly, but their offer was similarly unacceptable to Stax. Unhappy with either offer, Stewart then asked for the return of the Stax masters, but the executives at Warner-Seven Arts refused. All of the masters delivered to Atlantic between 1960 and 1967 are still wholly owned by Atlantic's current parent company, Warner Music Group 

Scene 10 On April 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, In the riots that followed King's murder, many properties in the vicinity of the Stax studio were attacked by rioters, but Stax was left untouched. On May 13 1968 Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic, and, instead sold Stax to Paramount Pictures, a unit of Gulf+Western; the sale brought it into direct co-ownership with Dot Records, a pop label Paramount had owned since 1957. Consequently, Stax was forced to move forward without the most desirable portion of its back catalogue and without Sam and Dave, who had been unofficially "on loan" to Stax up to this point, and forced to return to Atlantic after the split (although they never scored another major hit). In 1970 Taylor married Gerlean Rocket, with divorce from Harriet finalized, who had children (Johnnie Jr. and Sabrina) . His children from Gerlean marriage are (Jon Harrison Taylor, and Tasha Taylor), both musicians. In 1970, Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for Stax, and disputes between the two executives led to an impasse where Bell made plans to leave Stax. Forced to choose between Estelle and Bell, Stewart asked Axton to step down from the company. Street figures gravitated toward Taylor's narratives about the hustle, infidelity, and street logic. His 1971 classic "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" and "Part Time Love" spoke directly to the risks of leaving your home turf unprotected—themes that were central to street and pimp culture. Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after the split. These recordings feature the alternate Stax/Volt logos used on the album covers on their labels, as opposed to the original Atlantic-era logos, such as the "Stax-o-Wax" logo. Stax label recordings were reissued on the Atlantic label, and Volt label material on the Atco label. Gulf+Western-owned Stax/Volt releases used new label designs, new logos (including the recognizable finger snapping logo) and new catalogue numbering systems to avoid confusion among the record distributors.

JT was the undisputed king of the Chitlin' Circuit—a network of nightclub venues, juke joints, and urban theaters. These spaces were heavily frequented, and sometimes financed or protected, by local gamblers, numbers runners, gangsters, and pimps. Unlike the polished, crossover-friendly Motown sound, Taylor’s music via Stax Records kept a heavy blues-and-gospel edge that addressed real-world vices, money troubles ("Cheaper to Keep Her"), and late-night street life ("Love in the Streets [Ain't Good as the Love at Home]"). JT, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers, was one of Stax flagship artists, who were credited for keeping the company afloat in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the death of its biggest star, Otis Redding, in an aviation accident.

Scene 20 Stax began distributing music from several smaller Memphis labels and produced and released the soundtracks for feature films such as Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft (both 1971). 

Scene 21 JT appeared in the Wattstax, festival in 1972. 

Scene 22 After four years of the label distributing its own records, Bell signed a new distribution deal with CBS Records in 1972. Stax's relationship with CBS was tumultuous at best; with Bell and the Stax staff borrowing heavily from Memphis' Union Planters Bank

Scene 23 JT became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold more than one million copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. 

 

Scene 24 Estelle Axton founded Fretone Records, which had a major success in 1976 with the chart-topping "Disco Duck

Scene 25 Stewart furious at what he felt was Atlantic's—and Wexler's—betrayal of his trust, although Wexler continued to insist for years that he also had not read the contract and had nothing to do with the ownership clause. There was no righting this wrong, Jim was screwed, and I feel bad about it to this day.

Scene 26 CBS withholding records from stores and profits from Stax, the label's fortunes sharply declined until it slid into bankruptcy and was closed by court order in late 1975.  Bell was indicted for, and later acquitted of, bank fraud during the Stax bankruptcy proceedings.

Scene 27 Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded his biggest success with Don Davis still in charge of production, "Disco Lady", in 1976. It spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks at the top of the R&B chart. It peaked at No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1976.  "Disco Lady" was the first certified platinum single (two million copies sold) by the RIAA. Taylor recorded several more successful albums and R&B single hits with Davis on Columbia, before Brad Shapiro took over production duties, but sales generally fell away.

Scene 28 JT headlined a classic 1970s R&B/Funk show at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, sharing a star-studded bill with The Sylvers and Brass Construction.  JT performed at the Kool Jazz Festival held at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. He shared the Saturday night stage with Natalie Cole, Wild Cherry, John Handy, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy. 

 

 

 

 

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