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David Porter

 


Record producer, song writer, A&R manager, philanthropist, singer and entrepreneur David Porter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on 21 November 1941. 

Born into a large family, he became interested in music while singing in a Church choir along with his close friend Maurice White. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High in 1961.


While still at High School he had a job in a grocery store opposite Stax Records, and one day he went over to find out whether the label would consider recording soul music. After a chat with Chips Moman, he arranged for his friends and class mates to record for Stax, including William Bell, Andrew Love and Booker T. Jones. Stax took him on as a song writer, brought in his friend Isaac Hayes as a co-writer, and signed up Homer Banks (also a song writer/singer), The Soul Children and The Emotions. 

He and Hayes received Pioneer Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999. Among many awards, in 2013 he received a Governors' Arts Award for his work with the MMT Consortium.

Image: Memphis Flyer

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