Estelle Axton

Estelle Axton ( born September 11, 1918 Middleton, Tennessee, † February 25, 2004, Memphis ) was, together with her brother Jim Stewart, founder of Stax Records.

Life

Axton grew up on a farm, later went to Memphis to get an education as a teacher. She married Everett Axton and worked in a bank when her suggested her brother Jim Stewart, co-operate in Satellite Records. Satellite should include local country and Rockabillykünstler. She took out a mortgage on her house and was an equal partner with Satellite Records. In 1960 she built the Capitol Theatre, a former cinema into a black neighborhood Memphis ', in a recording studio and a record shop.

The name of their company, they changed in Stax Records ( Stewart Axton ), there was a company of the same name in Los Angeles. They began to shoot mainly black artists (such as Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MG's and Isaac Hayes ).

In 1968 the founders sold Stax Records to the film company Gulf & Western. 1970 bought the siblings back the company, but had to declare bankruptcy in 1975. The master tapes were bought by Fantasy Records to 1.3 million dollars. She was also the founder in 1973 of the Memphis Songwriters Association, an association that aims to support the local songwriters. Axton founded in 1977 Fretone Records with whom she had a big hit.

Died in 2004, the cofounder of the Memphis soul at the age of 85 years.