Booker T. Jones

Booker T. Jones is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the front man of Booker T. & the MGs. Raised in Memphis, he was captivated by melody, rhythm and harmony from an early age, and by sixteen he was already a working musician with a hit song to his name. His own account describes a loving, supportive family and community around him, set against the brutality of segregation.

While still in high school he recorded sessions at Stax Studios, and as part of the first house band for Stax Records he formed Booker T. & the MGs. Their first recording, "Green Onions," sold more than one million copies and earned a place among Rolling Stone's top five hundred songs of all time. His compositions also include "Time Is Tight," "Hip Hug-Her" and the often-sampled "Melting Pot." He has collaborated with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and later Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Carlos Santana and Willie Nelson. He also produced Bill Withers's debut album Just as I Am.

Jones has received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 with the band. His solo albums include Potato Hole (2009) and The Road from Memphis (2011), both of which won Grammy Awards. He published his memoir, Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note, in 2019. He continues to record and tour internationally, as a solo artist and as head of Booker T.'s Stax Revue.