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| Photo Courtesy Stax Museum of American Soul Music |
The record executive and producer "died peacefully, surrounded by his family," on Monday, according to a statement released by the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. He was 92.
He resumed his job in the bank when he returned to Memphis, while also launching his music career as a part-time fiddle player for a local country music group named the Canyon Cowboys. By 1957, Stewart had started a label, Satellite Records, to distribute country and rockabilly music.
Following the success of "Cause I Love You," a hit by Memphis DJ Rufus Thomas and his 16-year-old daughter Carla, Stewart moved away from country music and began focusing on R&B.
According to reporting by Bob Mehr of The Commercial Appeal, "for a decade and a half before being forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1975, Stax cranked out some 800 singles and 300 albums, placing more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts, picking up eight GRAMMYs and an Academy Award (Isaac Hayes for "Theme from Shaft") along the way."
Mehr added, "Musically, the influence of Stax Records is still vivid today in R&B, soul, rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, and gospel music. Stax songs have been covered by the likes of Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, the Black Crowes, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Cher, and numerous other bands and artists."
Stewart was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
A native of Middleton, Tenn., Stewart moved to Memphis after graduating from high school in 1948. He eventually found work as a bank clerk, before being drafted and serving two years in the Army.
We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Stax Records founder Jim Stewart. Mr. Stewart passed away peacefully earlier today, surrounded by his family.
— Stax Records (@StaxRecords) December 6, 2022
📸: Bill Carrier Jr., Courtesy of Concord pic.twitter.com/XDgM4Neuqt
He resumed his job in the bank when he returned to Memphis, while also launching his music career as a part-time fiddle player for a local country music group named the Canyon Cowboys. By 1957, Stewart had started a label, Satellite Records, to distribute country and rockabilly music.
Following the success of "Cause I Love You," a hit by Memphis DJ Rufus Thomas and his 16-year-old daughter Carla, Stewart moved away from country music and began focusing on R&B.
He and his sister Estelle Axton, who mortgaged her home to help him buy recording equipment and co-founded the studio, used the first two letters of their last names to create a portmanteau and renamed the studio Stax, after finding out there was another Satellite Records following the label's initial success.
Jim Stewart, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame record executive and producer who co-founded Memphis soul label Stax Records, has died at age 92. The timeless 1962 instrumental "Green Onions" by Booker T & the M.G.'s was Stax's first charting LP. #RIPJimStewart https://t.co/9ZYpAnAXDC
— Sean Walters (@sean_write) December 6, 2022
According to reporting by Bob Mehr of The Commercial Appeal, "for a decade and a half before being forced into involuntary bankruptcy in 1975, Stax cranked out some 800 singles and 300 albums, placing more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts, picking up eight GRAMMYs and an Academy Award (Isaac Hayes for "Theme from Shaft") along the way."
Mehr added, "Musically, the influence of Stax Records is still vivid today in R&B, soul, rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, and gospel music. Stax songs have been covered by the likes of Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, the Black Crowes, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Cher, and numerous other bands and artists."
Stewart was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
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