Rufus (father) and Carla Thomas (daughter) were R&B and soul singers from Memphis, Tennessee that recorded for Stax Records in the 60s.
Rufus and Carla Thomas
Rufus (father) and Carla Thomas (daughter) were R&B and soul singers from Memphis,
Tennessee that recorded for Stax Records in the 60s.
In the glorious decade and a half of sound that was Stax in the '60s and early '70s,
Carla Thomas was the Queen of Memphis Soul. She was born in Memphis in 1942, and 18 years
later she recorded a duet with her father Rufus Thomas, giving the fledgling Satellite
label its first taste of success with the regional hit "Cause I Love You." As
her 18th birthday drew nigh, she cut her first solo single, the teen ballad "Gee Whiz
(Look at His Eyes)." Written a few years earlier and rejected by Vee-Jay in Chicago,
it gave Satellite its first national hit, breaking the Top Ten mark on both the R&B
and pop charts. Shortly thereafter Satellite became Stax, and Carla proceeded to claw her
way onto the national charts another 22 times with such immortal slices of soul as her
answer song to Sam Cooke, "I'll Bring It on Home to You," as well as "Let
Me Be Good to You," "B-A-B-Y," "Tramp" (with Otis Redding), and
"I Like What You're Doing to Me." Carla released six solo albums and, with Otis
Redding, one duet album on Stax between 1961 and 1971. -- Rob Bowman, All-Music Guide
Few of rock & roll's founding figures are as likable as Rufus Thomas.
From the 1940s onward, he has personified Memphis music; his small but witty cameo role in
Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, a film which satirizes and enshrines the city's role in
popular culture, was entirely appropriate. As a recording artist, he wasn't a major
innovator, but he could always be depended upon for some good, silly, and/or outrageous
fun with his soul dance tunes. He was one of the few rock or soul stars to reach his
commercial and artistic peak in middle age, and was a crucial mentor to many important
Memphis blues, rock, and soul musicians.
Thomas was already a professional entertainer in the mid-'30s, when he was a comedian with
the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. He recorded music as early as 1941, but really made his mark on
the Memphis music scene as a deejay on WDIA, one of the few Black-owned stations of the
era. He also ran talent shows on Memphis' famous Beale Street that helped showcase the
emerging skills of such influential figures as B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Ike
Turner, and Roscoe Gordon.
Thomas had his first success as a recording artist in 1953 with "Bear Cat," a
funny answer record to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog." It made number three on
the R&B charts, giving Sun Records its first national hit, though some of the
sweetness went out of the triumph after Sun owner Sam Phillips lost a lawsuit for
plagiarizing the original Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller tune. Thomas, strangely, would make
only one other record for Sun, and recorded only sporadically throughout the rest of the
1950s.
Thomas and his daughter Carla would become the first stars for the Stax label, for whom
they recorded a duet in 1959, "'Cause I Love You" (when the company was still
known as Satellite). In the '60s, Carla would become one of Stax's biggest stars. On his
own, Rufus wasn't as successful as his daughter, but issued a steady stream of decent
dance/novelty singles.
These were not deep or emotional statements, or meant to be. Vaguely prefiguring elements
of funk, the accent was on the stripped-down groove and Rufus' good-time vocals, which
didn't take himself or anything seriously. The biggest by far was "Walking the
Dog," which made the Top Ten in 1963, and was covered by the Rolling Stones on their
first album.
Thomas hit his commercial peak in the early '70s, when "Do the Funky Chicken,"
"(Do The) Push and Pull," and "The Breakdown" all made the R&B Top
Five. As the song titles themselves make clear, funk was now driving his sound rather than
blues or soul. Thomas drew upon his vaudeville background to put them over onstage with
fancy footwork that displayed remarkable agility for a man well into his 50s. The collapse
of the Stax label in the mid-'70s meant the end of his career, basically, as it did for
many other artists with the company. -- Richie Unterberger, All-Music Guide
Rufus Thomas died in St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee December 15, 2001 of heart failure at the age of 84.
