Alex Chilton
b. 28 December 1950, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Chilton began singing and playing guitar while still at school and absorbed the raw-edged cry of local soul singers. His first work experience was with Ronnie And The DeVilles, singing Stax-styled R&B. Teamed with multi-instrumentalist Bill Cunningham (whose older brother was in the Hombres and wrote Let It All Hang Out), he fronted the Box Tops on guitar and vocals, mixing pop and soul in equal measure. Producer Dan Penn discovered them and recorded The Letter, released in late summer 1967 on Bell Records and reaching number 1 in both the UK and US charts. Cry Like A Baby (1968) and Soul Deep (1969) were quintessential blue-eyed Motown. In 1969 the Box Tops broke up. Chilton joined forces with Chris Bell, an old high school buddy obsessed with British beat music. They named themselves after a store across the street from the Ardent studio: Big Star Foodmarkets. NO 1 RECORD (1971) (on the Ardent label, distributed by Stax) was a brilliant debut, scintillating guitars and fresh melodies. Bell departed, but the tougher sound of RADIO CITY (1972) was an improvement, if anything. Unfortunately, a foul-up over distribution meant the albums became cult items rather than the pop successes they deserved to be. Chilton disappeared into New York, doing production work (Chris Stamey, Tav Falco's Panther Burns) and releasing erratic solo albums (LIKE FLIES ON SHERBERT). Requested by the Cramps for production work—a telling recognition from new wavers with a greater sense of tradition than anyone guessed—he did a startling job on SONGS THE LORD TAUGHT US (1980), actually setting up in Sam Philips's legendary studio, using more reverb than even Philips would have countenanced. HIGH PRIEST (1987) and a 1988 tour showed that Alex Chilton was still using his R&B roots to good effect, voice and guitar exhibiting their characteristic nervy edge.