Biography

He was the lead singer for the Memphis, Tennesse bands The Box Tops and Big Star.

The Box Tops charted with 10 Hot 100 singles between 1967-70.

Those songs were: "The Letter" (#1), "Neon Rainbow" (#24), "Cry Like A Baby" (#2), "Choo Choo Train" (#26), "I Met Her In Church" (#37), "Sweet Cream Ladies, Foward March" (#28), "I Shall Be Released" (#67), "Soul Deep" (#18), "Turn On A Dream" (#58), "You Keep Tightening Up On Me" (#92).

Big Star was originally called Rock City and then Ice Water.

The original Big Star line-up was Christopher Bell (vocals & guitar), Alex Chilton (vocals & guitar), Andy Hummel (vocals & bass) and Jody Stephens (vocals & drums).

Big Star's records (No. 1 Record (1972), Radio City (1973) and Sister Lovers (1978)) were all critically acclaimed but suffered from very poor distribution. As a result, very few heard the band at the time of the albums original releases. The original pressings of these records are now sought-after collector's items.

Big Star's music has proved very influential on other bands and musicians such as R.E.M., The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies and Matthew Sweet.

Moved from Memphis to New York in 1977 and played with future db's members Chris Stamey and Will Rigby in the band Alex Chilton And The Cossacks. That band recorded one single ("Bangkok" b/w "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" 1978).

Has resided in New Orleans, L.A. since 1982.

Has recorded several solo albums including Like Flies On Sherbert (1979), Bach's Bottom (1981), Feudalist Tarts (1985), High Preist (1987), Black List (1989), Cliches (1994), A Man Called Destruction (1995) and Set (2000).

He released two live albums Live In London (1982) and Live In Anvers (2004).

Big Star reformed for a one-off show at Missouri University on April 25th 1993. The new reformed line-up consists of Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens with Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of The Posies (replacing Christopher Bell who died in an December 1978 automobile accident and Andy Hummel who now works for General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas.). The performance resulted in a live album (Columbia: Live At Missouri University 4/25/93).

They performed sporadically since and released an album of all new material entitled In Space on Rykodisk Records in September 2005.

Was one of the many people affected by Hurricane Katrina and moved back to Memphis.
- IMDb mini biography by: Bill W