Booker T. & The M.G.'s

(CBSDFW.COM) - This week we salute the success of one of the early interracial R&B bands in the history of American music: Booker T. & The M.G.'s.

Formed in Memphis, Tennessee, the group was the house band for Stax Records. The group backed up some successful singers as Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. In the summer of 1962, Booker T. Jones (then only 17 years old) was at the Memphis studio to provide backup for singer Billy Lee Riley. Afterwards, Jones, 20-year-old Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg, and Al Jackson, Jr., started playing around with a bluesy organ. Jim Stewart, the president of Stax Records, heard it, liked it, and recorded it. With another track, "Behave Yourself" as the A-side and this song as the B-side of the single, Cropper and various radio disc jockeys felt different. The new track soon became the "A" side and known as "Green Onions." The song went to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and #3 on the pop charts. It sold over a million copies and awarded a gold disc. It has been used in countless motion pictures and TV commercials, most notably in the movie American Graffiti.

The group did not chart again on the pop charts until 1967 with songs like "Hip Hug-Her," "Time Is Tight," and the theme from the Clint Eastwood movie, "Hang 'Em High." The members of the group in 1967 were: Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Steve Cropper, and Al Jackson, Jr. Jackson was murdered in 1975 at age 39; Dunn passed away in 2012 after performing two concerts in Tokyo.

For years, Stax publicity releases stated that the initials of the band stood for "Memphis Group" but that has been a subject of discussion over the years. Musician/producer Chips Moman who worked at Stax claimed that the band was named after his sports car. Jones later confirmed that on several occasions. There were concerns back then of potential trademark infringement while the group was active, so "Memphis Group" was the explanation!

The group still exists today with Jones, Cropper, and Steve Potts.

Years ago, when Top 40 radio stations had to hit a network or local newscast on time, instrumentals were used to get the DJ to the time that he/she needed to hit. The MG's songs were perfect for that and later used as a music bed under a disc jockey's voice for a commercial or just "jock talk." Listen to this song, "Hip Hug-Her," recorded live in 1991 from The Strand in New York.