Stax

After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School while living just blocks away from the now-famous corner of College and McLemore, David Porter worked as a grocery sacker and insurance salesman, but also as a performer, singing in local nightclubs as Little David and recording his first record at 19 for Golden Eagle Records. He soon made his way to Satellite Records and soon after the company was renamed Stax, he was hired as the label’s first African-American staff songwriter. With songwriting and producing partner Isaac Hayes, Porter became one of the most prolific and important songwriters in music history, penning more than 200 songs for Stax alone, including “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” “Soul Man,” and “When Something is Wrong with My Baby.” Porter also released four solo albums on Stax (1970: Gritty, Groovy, and Gettin' It; 1971: Into a Real Thin; 1971: Victim of the Joke? An Opera; and 1973: Sweat and Love) and went on to write for other major artists such as Mariah Cary (“Dream Lover”) and Wil Smith (“Gettin’ Jiggy With It”). His songs have been involved in more than 250 million units sold worldwide over the last five decades.

Today, David Porter – who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 along with Hayes – continues to write and produce music, serves on many nonprofit boards, owns and operates businesses in the Memphis International Airport. In January 2011, Porter debuted his new, Broadway-style show, “Stories of a Real Soul Man: An Evening with David Porter & Friends,” at the L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In the musical and video show, Porter recalls stories from his days at Stax and beyond, and many of his songs are performed by cast of music notables. Its second run was at the Stax Museum’s Stax to the Max street festival in April 2011 to help celebrate 10 years of the Stax Music Academy.