Alex Chilton

William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock bands the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for the Box Tops was not matched by similar chart success in his later work with Big Star and in his subsequent solo career on independent record labels. However, he built a devoted following among indie and alternative musicians, and has been frequently cited as a seminal influence by influential rock artists and bands.

Early life and career Chilton grew up in a musical family. His father, Sidney Chilton, was a jazz pianist and saxophonist who sold industrial lighting to support his family. By late 1969, only Chilton and guitarist Gary Talley remained from the original group, and newer additions replaced the members who had departed. The group decided to disband and pursue independent careers in February 1970.

After deciding against enrolling as a student at Memphis State University, Chilton began performing as a solo artist, maintaining a working relationship with Penn for demos. During this period he began learning guitar by studying the styles of guitarists like Stax Records great Steve Cropper and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys. Chilton began recording his own solo material in the fall of 1969 at Ardent Studios with local musicians including producer Terry Manning (who had worked with Chilton as an engineer on the Box Tops' recordings) and drummer Richard Rosebrough, and producing a few local blues-rock acts. His 1969–1970 recordings were released in the 1980s and 1990s on albums such as Lost Decade (New Rose Records), 1970 (Ardent Records), and Free Again: The "1970" Sessions" (Omnivore Recordings).

Chilton was considered as a replacement vocalist for Al Kooper in Blood, Sweat & Tears.

1970s career

After a period in New York City, during which Chilton worked on his guitar technique and singing style. Biographer Holly George-Warren notes that a chance meeting with Roger McGuinn left a strong impression on Chilton's singing and playing. Chilton returned to Memphis in 1971 and co-founded the power pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell, recording at engineer John Fry's Ardent Studios. Chilton and Bell co-wrote "In the Street" for Big Star's first album #1 Record, a track later covered by Cheap Trick and used as the theme song of the sitcom That '70s Show.

The group's recordings met with little commercial success but established Chilton's reputation as a rock singer and songwriter; later alternative rock bands like R.E.M. and the Posies would praise the group as a major influence. During this period he also occasionally recorded with Rosebrough as a group they called the Dolby Fuckers; some of their studio experimentation was included on Big Star's album Radio City, including the recording of "Mod Lang". Rosebrough would occasionally work with Chilton on later recordings, including Big Star's album Third and Chilton's solo record Bach's Bottom.

Moving back to New York in 1977, Chilton performed as "Alex Chilton and the Cossacks" with a lineup that included Chris Stamey (later of the dB's) and Richard Lloyd of Television at venues like CBGB, releasing an influential solo single, "Bangkok" (with a cover of the Seeds' "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" as the B-side), in 1978. Influenced by the performers in New York's CBGB scene, Chilton's late-1970s recordings abandoned the multi-layered pop production of his Big Star albums and utilized a more minimalist punk and psychobilly-influenced performance style. His songs during this period were often recorded in one take and featured few overdubs. In New York, he met the members of the Cramps, a formative psychobilly group. After moving back to Memphis in April 1978, The group played a string of shows in the fall in Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey; where he spent much of 1982 and 1983 working outside music: washing dishes at the Louis XVI Restaurant in the French Quarter, working as a janitor at the Uptown nightclub Tupelo's Tavern, and working as a tree-trimmer.

With 1987's High Priest, Chilton released his first full-length LP in eight years, for which he served as producer and wrote four new songs. He was given a $21,000 recording budget by his European and U.S. record labels (New Rose and Big Time, respectively) which allowed him to augment his band on various songs with a three-piece horn section, backup singers, piano, keyboards, and rhythm guitar. He was also able to continue the genre-mixing he had started with Like Flies on Sherbert by including soul, blues, gospel, and rock songs on the same record. John McClure, and Ron Easley, and with drummers Doug Garrison and, from 1993 on, Richard Dworkin (who also played for many years with the jazz group the Microscopic Septet), Chilton gained a reputation for his eclectic taste in song covers, guitar work, and laconic stage presence. Writing about a live performance in The New York Times, critic Peter Watrous said of Chilton that "he's a soul and blues guitar connoisseur; he chooses his guitar licks as carefully as he does the blues songs he covers, and during his solos, a listener heard a history of soul and blues guitar." Watrous went on to say of the show that "irony flowed over everything, and it was hard to tell exactly what Mr. Chilton was after, except perhaps a little fun." and work on clearing trees and framing his planned house, a project he was never to complete. Chilton's final two studio albums featured his band and continued his pattern of mixing together songs from pop, soul, blues, gospel, R&B, swing, and country music. A Man Called Destruction (1995), like High Priest, featured a mix of covers and originals and an expanded band that included horns, keyboards, and occasional backup singers, and was released in the U.S. on the relaunched Ardent Records label. Chilton took an enlarged edition of his band on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in July 1995 to promote the album, playing the song "Lies". This was Chilton's second appearance on national television in less than a year; in October 1994, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with the reformed Big Star. Chilton's final solo studio record, Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy (1999, released as Set in the U.S.), featured Chilton with only Ron Easley on bass and Richard Dworkin on drums. Chilton released one more album as a solo artist during his lifetime, the 2004 CD Live in Anvers, which featured him playing a show in Belgium with a pick-up band of European musicians.

Chilton reformed Big Star in 1993 with a lineup that included original drummer Jody Stephens and two members of the Posies: Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. This version of Big Star continued to perform live on an infrequent basis for the rest of Chilton's life. The final Big Star studio album, entitled In Space, with songs penned by the then-current lineup, was released by Rykodisc on September 27, 2005.

Big Star's October 29, 1994, performance, their only known show to be professionally filmed in its entirety, was released in November 2014 by Omnivore Recordings as Live in Memphis. According to Mojo, the DVD documents how Big Star's 1990s lineup defied expectations and endured for another 16 years: "Chilton's musicality is mesmerising as he drives the band.... Alternating between lead and rhythm, he plays with a mix of laser focus and utter insouciant cool."

In 1996, Chilton regrouped in Memphis with original Box Tops members Danny Smythe, John Evans, Bill Cunningham, and Gary Talley, and the following year they recorded Tear Off!, the group's final record with Chilton. The album, which was recorded primarily at Easley Recording Studios in Memphis, was released in Europe in 1998. Chilton subsequently toured with the original group annually. Chilton had toured Europe in 1991 with a version of the band, and had sung Box Tops material as a featured singer in oldies package tours during the 1980s and 1990s. After Chilton's death, the Box Tops were to reform again in 2015 with guitarist Gary Talley as lead vocalist.

In 1998, the Alex Chilton/Chris Bell song "In the Street" (from the first Big Star album) was chosen as the theme music for the U.S. television series That '70s Show at the suggestion of Chilton's friend and occasional touring partner Ben Vaughn. Vaughn was working for the series at the time, and oversaw a new recording of the song by singer Todd Griffin and a group of Los Angeles studio musicians. Starting with the second season of the show, a version recorded by the band Cheap Trick replaced the version recorded by Griffin.

2000–2010

Chilton toured and recorded less frequently in his final decade, choosing to spend more of his time at home in New Orleans. In 1995, Chilton purchased a 19th-century center-hall cottage in the Tremé neighborhood for $13,000, and he enjoyed working on his house and practicing Scott Joplin rags on his piano (an instrument he later lost in Hurricane Katrina). In 2009, he remarried. Chilton's last studio projects included playing bass on Cristina Black's The Ditty Session, and producing tracks by guitarist and singer "Johnny J." Beninati, a former member of the New Orleans rockabilly group the Blue Vipers. Chilton's final live performance was in New Orleans on January 24, 2010, where he participated in a benefit show for Haitian earthquake victims. Chilton had experienced at least two episodes of shortness of breath in the week prior to his fatal heart attack, though he did not seek medical attention in part because he did not have health insurance. He was survived by his wife, Laura, a son, Timothee, and a sister, Cecilia.

He had been scheduled to play a concert with Big Star at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, on March 20; the show instead took place as a tribute to Chilton, with guests Curt Kirkwood, Chris Stamey, M. Ward, Mike Mills, John Doe, Sondre Lerche, Chuck Prophet, Evan Dando, the Watson Twins, and original member Andy Hummel (who died four months later) joining the other members of Big Star.

Honors and awards Star honoring Alex Chilton on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First AvenueChilton was honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis", according to journalist Steve Marsh.

Discography

The Box-Tops

The Letter/Neon Rainbow (1967) Cry Like a Baby (1968) Non-Stop (1968) Dimensions (1969) Tear Off! (1998)

Big Star 1 Record (1972) Radio City (1974) Third (1978) In Space (2005)

Solo Albums Like Flies on Sherbert – (Peabody, 1979; Aura, 1980) Bach's Bottom – (Line, 1980, remixed & reissued 1993 on Razor & Tie) High Priest – (New Rose/Big Time, 1987; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie) Clichés – (Ardent, 1993) A Man Called Destruction – (Ardent, 1995) 1970 – (Ardent, 1996 – Recorded between his tenures with the Box Tops and Big Star, but unreleased until 1996; reissued in 2012 as Free Again: The "1970" Sessions on Omnivore Recordings OVCD-13, Ace Records OVLP13 CDWIKD 302) Cubist Blues, with Ben Vaughn and Alan Vega – (Discovery, 1997; reissued by Last Call in 2006, with an extra disc recorded live) Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy – (Last Call, 1999; Munster, 1999). Released in the USA as Set (Bar/None Records, 2000)

Solo Singles and EPs Singer Not the Song (EP) – (Ork, 1977) – Five songs from the 1975 session later released in full as Bach's Bottom and also on the One Day In New York album. Original Ork release included "Free Again", "The Singer Not The Song", "Take Me Home & Make Me Like It", "All The Time", and "Summertime Blues". "Bangkok" / "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" – (Fun, 1978) "Hey Little Child" / "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena" – (Aura 1980 UK) Feudalist Tarts (EP) – (New Rose/Big Time, 1985; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie) No Sex (EP) – (New Rose/Big Time, 1986; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie) Black List (EP) – (New Rose, 1989; reissued 1994 on Razor & Tie) "All We Ever Got From Them Was Pain (Original Mix)" / "All We Ever Got From Them Was Pain (Demo)" – (Omnivore Recordings OVS7-14, 2011)

Live albums Live in London – (Aura, 1982 UK). Recorded live at Dingwalls, London, England Wednesday, May 28, 1980. Live in Anvers – (Last Call/Rykodisc, 2004) Electricity By Candlelight / NYC 2/13/97 – (Bar/None, 2013) Ocean Club '77 – (Norton Records, 2015). A 1977 live gig in NYC. Boogie Shoes: Live on Beale Street – (Omnivore Recordings, 2021). As Alex Chilton and Hi Rhythm Section, recorded live at the New Daisy Theatre, Memphis, October 7, 1999.

Compilation albums One Day in New York – (Trio Records, 1978). Combines the Singer Not the Song EP with a 6-song live set by Alex Chilton and the Cossacks, recorded 1977 in New York. Expanded for a 1991 CD release, with an additional studio track from the Bach's Bottom session. Alex Chilton's Lost Decade – (Fan Club, 1985) Document – (Aura, 1985) Stuff – (New Rose, 1987) Best of Alex Chilton – (New Rose, 1991) 19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton – (Rhino, CD and cassette, 1991) Top 30 – (Last Call, 1997) Free Again: The "1970" Sessions – (Omnivore Recordings OVCD-13, 2011) From Memphis to New Orleans – (Bar/None, 2019). A compilation of rock songs, from studio recordings 1985-1989. Songs from Robin Hood Lane – (Bar/None, 2019). A compilation of traditional pop songs. Combines five tracks from the solo acoustic album Clichés with seven band tracks in the jazz vocal idiom produced by bassist Ron Miller. Three of the band tracks previously appeared on the Chet Baker tribute album Imagination (Rough Trade, 1991), and four were previously unreleased.

Appeared on Caroline Now!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys – (Marina 2000). Alex plays "I Wanna Pick You Up". Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits – (Manifesto, 1995). Alex plays "Downtown" Who Covers Who? – (CM Discs, 1993). A tribute to the Who. Alex plays "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere". Imagination – (Rough Trade, 1991). A Chet Baker tribute credited to the group Medium Cool, a musical project organized by James Chance. Alex sings "Look for the Silver Lining", "Let's Get Lost", and "That Old Feeling". (All three tracks later included on the Alex Chilton album Songs from Robin Hood Lane.) Play New Rose for Me – (New Rose, 1986). Alex plays the Troggs' "With a Girl Like You". Also included on the Rhino compilation 19 Years. The Bigtime Syndrome – (Big Time, 1987). Alex plays the Porter Wagoner song "Rubber Room". Love Is My Only Crime – (Veracity, 1993). Alex plays the Jim McBride song "Bet Your Heart on Me", a 1981 hit for country singer Johnny Lee. Listed on the album as "You Can Bet Your Heart on Me". Acoustic Music Project – A Benefit for Project Open Hand – (Alias, 1990). Live versions of "Guantanamerika" and "No Sex" (unlisted bonus track). Recorded live at Great American Music Hall, San Francisco. Best of Mountain Stage Live, Volume 3 (BMP, 1992). Alex plays "Guantanamerika". Live at the Knitting Factory: Downtown Does the Beatles – (Knitting Factory Works, 1992) Alex plays "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Vera Groningen – Beauty in the Underworld – (Vera, 1990). Alex plays the Porter Wagoner song "Rubber Room", recorded live on May 21, 1986, with René Coman and Doug Garrison at the Vera club in Groningen, Netherlands. Shoeshine Chartbusters – (Shoeshine, 1997). Alex plays "We're Gonna Make It" by Little Milton, "A Lot of Livin' to Do" from Bye Bye Birdie, the Fats Domino arrangement of "Margie", the Big Joe Turner song "Hide and Seek", and the standard "There Will Never Be Another You", live recording, backed by Alan Hutchison (Superstar), bass, and Francis Macdonald (Teenage Fanclub), drums. The Weedkiller's Daughter – (John & Mary, 1993) I Shall Be Released – (Carmaig de Forest, 1987) See My Friends – (Ray Davies, 2010) The Ditty Sessions – (Cristina Black, 2010)