Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas ( born March 26, 1917 in Cayce, Mississippi, † 15 December 2001 in Memphis, Tennessee) was an American blues and soul singer, radio presenter, entertainer and talent scout. He is the father of soul singer Carla Thomas and the Stax - pianist Marvell Thomas.
Life
Rufus Thomas began his career in the 1930s with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. In the 1940s he worked as a disc jockey at WDIA radio show in Memphis, one of the first black radio stations. On Beale Street in Memphis, he ran a talent show, emerged from among other BB King, Bobby Blue Bland and Ike Turner.
1953, Thomas Bear Cat with his first hit, which is to be understood as an answer to Big Mama Thornton's hit Hound Dog. The recording was the first national hit for Sun Records. In 1959 he took up with his daughter Carla Cause I Love You. Father and daughter were thus the first stars of the Stax label. His daughter was the bigger star at Stax, surpassing her father, but released records regularly. His biggest hit was Walking The Dog, which was later taken up by the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith and which belonged to the live program from the Grateful Dead and John Cale. His most successful period was the early 1970s, in which he had with Do the Funky Chicken ( Do The ) Push and Pull, and The Breakdown Hitnummern in the R & B charts. The bankruptcy of Stax Records mid-1970s ended his career, as well as the many other artists of the label.
1992 Rufus Thomas was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 2001, the Blues Hall of Fame. He died in 2001 in Memphis of heart failure.