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201 13 Members only 1985–1990 tommy Couch Sr. grew up in Tuscumbia, Alabama, near Florence, the birthplace of W. C. Handy and Sam Phillips, and not far from Muscle Shoals, where Bobby Bland and other artists recorded so many southern soulinflected hits during the sixties and early seventies. Couch went to college at the University of Mississippi, where he was elected social chairman of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, in 1961. That position required him to book bands for fraternity parties and dances, and he naturally selected bands that were popular in his hometown area: Jimmy Johnson’s Del Rays, David Hood’s the Mystics, and Dan Penn and the Pallbearers, among others. Following his graduation with a degree in pharmacology, Couch moved to Jackson, Mississippi, to become a pharmacist. But before long he was in the booking business again, forming Malaco Attractions with his brother-in-law Mitchell Malouf (Malouf + Couch = Malaco). Gerald “Wolf” Stephenson, who in the fall of 1964 succeeded Couch as social chairman at Pi Kappa Alpha, soon joined the operation which promoted concerts in the area by the Dave Clark 5, Herman’s Hermits, the Who, the Animals, and many others. Stephenson, born in 1943 and raised in rural Columbia, Mississippi, also studied pharmacology at Ole Miss, but found it a bit easier than his classmates, who did not have the benefit of a personal tutor in high school as Wolf had with his father who was an accomplished high school chemistry teacher. This advantage left plenty of time for Wolf to socialize and book rhythm and blues bands for all kinds of wild parties in and around Oxford.1 This entrepreneurial threesome began experimenting with some recordings in 1966 and, in 1967, opened a recording studio in a converted Pepsi warehouse at 3023 Northside Drive that remains Malaco’s home to this day.2 “We recorded everything in the world imaginable—country to symphonies to pop—and the Members only: 1985–1990 202 only thing that really happened for us was black music,” Couch recalled. “We are big fans of the music but we didn’t really focus on rhythm and blues at first. I’d like to say we did but we just kind of did it by accident.”3 Like Sam Phillips more than a decade before, they recorded anything they had to, to keep going—jingles, local bands, custom projects—and, like nearby Stax, they leased masters to other larger companies for distribution. Between 1968 and 1970, Capitol Records released six singles and the Grammy-nominated album I Do Not Play No Rock ’n’ Roll by Mississippi Fred McDowell, all produced at Malaco. Other distribution deals were eventually forged with ABC, Mercury, and Bang. In May 1970 veteran New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue, who owed local recording impresario Cosimo Matassa more than $70,000, offered to trade the services of some of his Big Easy artists for Malaco studio time and session musicians. Luckily for Malaco, now seriously starving for cash, the session resulted in two giant hits: King Floyd’s “Groove Me,” released on Malaco’s Chimneyville label, and Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” on Stax.4 Atlantic Records, which helped distribute “Groove Me,” soon sent the Pointer Sisters and James Carr, and Stax sent Rufus Thomas to Jackson to record at Malaco Studios. Even Paul Simon recorded part of his There Goes Rhymin’ Simon album there in 1973. But by 1974 the momentum had stalled and cash flow was at an all-time low. “It was so slack we almost went out of business,” admitted Couch, “[and] Malouf bailed out to sell real estate.”5 Couch and Stephenson were still working as part-time pharmacists to make ends meet. Out of desperation, they scavenged the Malaco archives of rejected masters for something that might sell. With just enough money left to press and ship the record before Thanksgiving 1975, they released Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue,” originally recorded in 1973, which sold over two million copies worldwide, and was followed by thirteen more hits and five Grammy nominations for Moore by 1980. By 1977 the company was also able to sign some quality songwriters, artists, and producers from the defunct Stax Records, including Eddie Floyd, Frederick Knight, the Fiestas, and David Porter.6 In 1978 Stewart Madison, a fellow Ole Miss grad who had been heading a Shreveport, Louisiana, recording studio, came aboard to oversee the company’s business affairs, enabling Couch to work more closely with...

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