Stax

Detroit native Kim Weston got her start there at Motown Records in the early 1960s, scoring a hit with “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While),” which later became an even bigger hit for The Doobie Brothers. She also hit it big there with the duet “It Takes Two” she recorded with Marvin Gaye. Weston left Motown in 1967 and recorded the LP This is America, which included her version of the classic “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” She came to Stax in 1970 and recorded the LP Kim Kim Kim, which included a cover of Sam & Dave’s David Porter/Isaac Hayes-penned “When Something is Wrong With My Baby,” but is best know from Stax for her performance of the aforementioned “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in front of 112,000 at the 1972 Wattstax concert in Los Angeles. The performance is a pivotal one in the documentary Wattstax: The Living Word.

In July 2011, Weston performed in the Motown Tent at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., next to the Soulsville Tent, where the Stax Music Academy performed for five days, with guest appearances by Stax alumni William Bell and Mable John.