Jim Stewart Obituary, Funeral

Jim Stewart was an American record executive and producer. Stewart was born in Middleton, Tennessee, on July 29, 1930.

He co-founded Satellite Records, later known as Stax Records, in 1957 after convincing his sister, Estelle Axton, to take out a second mortgage on her home and join him.

Stax Records became one of the leading recording companies during the 1960s and 1970s heydays of soul and R&B music. During this time, the label also had a number of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart.

From the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, the record label and recording studio on McLemore Avenue in South Memphis became a haven for a new generation of Memphis R&B hitmakers.

Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Booker T & the MGs, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, and other artists contributed to the label’s success.

Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and the institution stated that “As producer, engineer, businessman and mentor, Jim Stewart was at the center of it all.”

Jim Stewart died “peacefully, surrounded by his family,” according to a statement released by Stax Museum of American Soul Music on December 5, 2022. His funeral arrangements have not been made public.