Celebrating Memphis icon Rufus Thomas

Photo by Stax handout

Rufus Thomas, who died 10 years ago, was a fixture on Beale Street years before he recorded his best-known hits for Stax Records.

Ten years ago this week, Memphis lost one of its musical, cultural and civic icons: Rufus Thomas.

Known for his exuberant manner -- he was nicknamed "The World's Oldest Teenager" -- Thomas' life was woven into the very fabric of the Bluff City's history: from his role in minstrel shows and talent contests on Beale Street, to the development of black radio at WDIA, as well as his unparalleled position as the first hitmaker for both the Sun and Stax labels.

He was, for many, the embodiment of Memphis, and remains so.

To mark the 10th anniversary of his death, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music will host a special remembrance from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

The event, which includes free admission to the museum, will feature a new video tribute, music, refreshments and guests including members of the Thomas family.

"Obviously, Rufus is one of the big reasons (Stax co-founder) Jim Stewart started doing R&B music," says Stax Museum communication director Tim Sampson. "Rufus was such a wonderful ambassador for Stax and for the city of Memphis all his life. We're happy to celebrate that life and career."

Also, on Thursday, the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum will honor Thomas by offering free admission to any resident of Shelby County -- or to any resident of his hometown of Cayce, Miss. Visitors to the museum will have to show a valid driver's license identifying them as a resident of Shelby County or Cayce; guests to the museum on that day who also "Do the Funky Chicken" in the lobby will receive a free gift from the museum.

Born in Cayce in 1917, Rufus Thomas moved to Memphis a few years later. A precocious child performer, he worked his way through the local entertainment ranks as a dancer, comic and stage MC on Beale Street, and later as a deejay on WDIA, before launching a recording career -- and giving Sun Records its first national hit -- with 1953's "Bear Cat."

By the late-'50s, his family included a pair of teenagers, piano-playing son Marvell, and singing daughter Carla. Younger daughter Vaneese would later sing background on Stax sessions, before going on to a successful career of her own in the 1980s.

Together, the Thomases would become responsible for the transformation of Stax into a hitmaking label, with Rufus and Carla cutting the company's first breakout single, "'Cause I Love You" with Carla later scoring a Top 10 pop success with "Gee Whiz."

Despite his recording achievements, Thomas remained a showman, first and foremost. "He enjoyed live performances better than anything else he did," says son Marvell. "He enjoyed recording, of course. But he liked the interaction with audiences, with crowds, with people. That was his greatest joy."

Thomas' ability to handle crowds was never more apparent than during the 1972 Wattstax concert in Los Angeles, where he comically coaxed crowds storming the grounds back into the grandstands.

"That all goes back to the days with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels when he had to emcee shows. As an emcee, his job was to deal with audiences and, over time, he got to where he was extraordinarily proficient at it, better than anybody I've ever seen," says Marvell.

Though all three of the Thomas children would become musicians, Marvell says his father never pushed them into the family business. "He did what he did, but he didn't actively encourage us to do that, too. I think he was probably gratified that we did become (musicians) ultimately. But he made no overt effort towards pushing us in that direction."

"I mean, Vaneese was going to work for the State Department as an interpreter, and I was going to medical school. The entertainment business was something we literally fell into. When Stax Records opened its doors, it opened all the pathways to that. Had Stax not opened, we would've probably been doing something else."

While the appreciation for Thomas is most deeply felt in Memphis, his legacy is international. Each year in Italy, the Poretta Music Festival takes place in a park named after Thomas, who was a regular performer there.

"He had an ability to connect to people, regardless of what the language or the country was," says Marvell. "'Cause he had fans in France and Spain, everywhere he went. He just had a knack for that."

These days, Marvell devotes a good bit of his time to maintaining Rufus' estate. "We still get a lot of inquiries from people who want to use his material, in movies and TV and stuff," he says.

"I know he would've liked the fact that what he did is still remembered fondly."

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A Celebration of Rufus Thomas

6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore. Admission is free. For more information, go to staxmuseum.com.

Also, on Thursday, the Rock 'n' Soul Museum, located inside FedExForum, will honor Thomas by offering free admission to any resident of Shelby County or of Thomas' hometown of Cayce, Miss. For more information, go to memphisrocknsoul.org.

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