Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy Honor Rufus Thomas on the day that would have been his 90th Birthday
Today, on what would have been Stax legend Rufus Thomas’ 90th birthday, students of Soulsville’s Stax Music Academy and Soulsville Charter School were treated to a history lesson on Thomas. A special exhibit was created and is in the lobby of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (in addition to permanent exhibits honoring him), and he will be remembered tonight the museum’s Last Mondays in Studio A concert with The Temprees and The Mad Lads.
Known affectionately by millions as the “oldest teenager in the world,? Rufus Thomas was born on March 26, 1917 in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi. His long, illustrious, and colorful career began at the age of 6, when he played a frog in a school theatrical production. In 1936 he joined the world of Vaudeville and toured the South with a group named the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. After that, while working at a textile factory for 22 years, he became one of the most influential disc jockeys in the South on country’s first all African-American staffed radio station, WDIA and is credited with discovering B.B. King in that role.
In 1953 he began his recording career with an “answer record? to Big Mama Thornton’s hit, “Hound Dog? called “Bear Cat? and released on Sun Records, the label’s first hit. After being released from Sun, Thomas paid a visit to Jim Stewart’s fledgling Satellite Records (later named Stax), and, along with his daughter Carla, recorded that label’s first hit, “Cause I Love You.?
An integral part of the success of Stax Records, Thomas had a number of hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s on the label, including that were tied to a then-current dance craze: “Do the Funky Chicken,? “(Do the) Push and Pull,? “The Breakdown? and “Do the Penguin?. He performed at Wattstax in 1972, leading a crowd of 40,000 in the “Funky Chicken.? His smash Stax hit “Walking the Dog? has been covered by The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, among others.
He was the father of soul singers Carla and Vaneese Thomas and keyboard player Marvell Thomas.
Late in his career, for years, Rufus performed at the Poretta Festival in
Italy. In 1996 Rufus and William Bell headlined at the Olympics in
Atlanta. Highlights of his career included calming an unruly crowd at
the 1972 Wattstax Festival, performing with James Brown’s band, and the
knowledge that, along with James Brown and a handful of others, he was
a key to the emergence of funk. He was a charismatic stage presence,
telling jokes and dancing, and wearing capes and brightly colored hot
pants. Rufus Thomas died in 2001 at St. Francis Hospital in
Memphis.