Unsung Stax star Wendy Rene gets due on 'After Laughter Comes Tears'

Wendy Rene for poster.

Wendy Rene knows a thing or two about the strange twists of fate, the little choices that can mean so much. A homegrown talent on the Stax Records roster in the mid-'60s, the sweet-voiced Rene was always seemingly a step shy of stardom.

In late 1967, just as she was about to walk away from her fledgling career, Rene was asked by her friend Otis Redding to play some shows in the Midwest. Having just given birth to a son, Rene begged off the trip at the last minute. The rest — namely the death of Redding and most of the Bar-Kays in a plane crash following a gig in Wisconsin — is history.

Rene would spend the next 40 years living quietly in Memphis under her real name, Mary Cross. Raising a family, her short-lived singing career would recede into distant memory, preserved only by a handful of soul aficionados and record collectors.

This week, however, Seattle-based reissue label Light in the Attic will release the first Rene anthology. Titled After Laughter Comes Tears: Complete Stax & Volt Singles + Rarities 1964-1965, it's a comprehensive look at Rene's career, gathering all her studio efforts as well as several previously unreleased songs, and it comes packaged with an in-depth booklet featuring notes by Memphis writer Andria Lisle.

A record release party will be held Tuesday afternoon at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music; the ever-reclusive Rene is expected to attend.

For Light in the Attic founder Matt Sullivan — whose company also recently released a CD survey of Stax alum Packy Axton's work — Rene's tale begged to be told. "First and foremost, we absolutely loved the music," Sullivan says. "She's one of those forgotten voices of the Stax era and the Stax catalog. We were intrigued to try and locate her and compile a proper anthology of her work and really tell her story."

Born Mary Frierson, Rene began her career in a teen gospel singing group called the Drapels with her brother Johnny. In 1963, the group auditioned for Stax head Jim Stewart, who offered them a deal. But Rene, still in high school, was writing songs of her own, and she would be signed concurrently as a solo act as well: The company envisioned her as a replacement of sorts for its queen, Carla Thomas, who was taking a hiatus from recording while attending college. She first took the stage name Wendy Storm (an invention of Stax PR woman Deanie Parker) before labelmate Otis Redding suggested the more elegant sounding Wendy Rene.

Recording with house backing band Booker T. & the MGs and getting writing assists from the group's guitarist, Steve Cropper, Rene released a succession of wonderful singles like the moody "Give It What You Got" and dance number "Bar-B-Que."

Her greatest work, however, was her debut ballad, "After Laughter (Comes Tears)." It captured the essence of Rene's youthful verve, becoming a minor hit.

In 1967, newly married to Stax employee James Cross, Rene decided to abruptly quit music in order to raise a family. A final offer to play the fateful gigs with Redding and the Bar-Kays was her last brush with the business.

"She was growing; she had more potential as a Stax artist," Sullivan says. "But she wanted to focus on her family. She didn't want to go on the road. She wanted to raise her kids and be there full time."

For the next four decades, Rene's musical ambitions were limited to singing in her church choir. But eventually, the industry would rediscover Rene and her songs.

At the dawn of the '90s, "After Laughter" was famously sampled by the Wu Tang Clan for the track "Tearz" off their Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album; more than a decade later, the song was incorporated by Alicia Keys into "Where Do We Go From Here" on her platinum-selling 2007 LP As I Am.

In 2010, Rene was finally coaxed back to the stage for the first time since the late-'60s, performing as part of the Ponderosa Stomp, a New Orleans music festival.

Even today, with the resurgence of interest in her music, Rene remains an enigma, preferring to stand back in the shadows as others celebrate her work.

"It took us a while to even really get her to do (the CD reissue), because getting a hold of (Rene) was so difficult," Sullivan says. "But she's one of those people who truly had a distinctive voice. Years later, she's finally getting a little of that recognition she deserves."

Wendy Rene CD Release Party

Tuesday, 4 to 6 p.m. at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore. Deejays Leroy, Beyonda, Jones, Buck Wilders and the Bo-Keys' Scott Bomar will be spinning soul 45s. The event is free. For more information, go to staxmuseum.com, or call (901) 942-7685.

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