John Stax (born John Edward Lee Fullagar, 6 April 1944,

Crayford Crayford is a town and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in South London, South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the Historic countie ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

) is an English musician best known as original bassist for the

Pretty Things Pretty Things were an English Rock music, rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent, taking their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing", and active in their first incarnation until 1971. They released five studio albums, i ...

. He adopted the name "Stax" because of his fondness for the music produced by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

. Stax played on all of their charting singles, which included " Rosalyn," "

Don't Bring Me Down "Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album ''Discovery''. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States. History "Don't Bring Me Down" is the band's second-hig ...

," " Midnight to Six Man," " Road Runner," " Honey I Need", and "

Cry to Me "Cry to Me" is a song written by Bert Berns (listed as "Bert Russell") and first recorded by American soul singer Solomon Burke in 1961. Released in 1962, it was Burke's second single to appear in both ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot R&B Sides an ...

." He also frequently contributed backing vocals as well as playing harmonica. He played on the Pretty Things' first three albums: ''

The Pretty Things ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', '' Get the Picture?'' and ''

Emotions Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

'', although his exact contributions to the latter are unknown. He also played on the band's first two EPs, ''The Pretty Things'' and ''"Rainin' in My Heart".'' He was part of The Pretty Things infamous tour of New Zealand in 1965. Stax left the band in January 1967, a month after rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton. Stax then emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1970 where he currently resides. Stax currently builds and sells cigar box guitars. He rejoined the Pretty Things on their 2012 Australian tour, taking the stage on a couple of songs to play bass guitar and harmonica and also guested for a song on their 2018 Farewell Tour in Melbourne. Stax also played with Melbourne R&B 'supergroup' Blues Hangover, which featured Dave Hogan (vocals, harp), Warren Rough (guitar) and Ken Farmer (drums; all from The Paramount Trio) plus Peter Wells (Rose Tattoo) and Lucy De Soto. The band issued two albums issued on the Dog Meat label, Blues Hangover (1995) and Roadrunner (1996).McFarlane, 'Peter Wells' entry at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 June 2004). Archived from the original on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2014

References

External links

On AllMusic
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Black Diamond Cigar Box Guitars

DRW Entertainment - Pretty Things Farewell Tour

Discogs artist Blues Hangover

Louder - Pretty Things British Band Story

Kiwi Musicians In Oz - Pretty Things Farewell Tour 2018
1944 births Living people People from Crayford English rock bass guitarists English rock singers British harmonica players Pretty Things members English expatriates in Australia Musicians from the London Borough of Bexley {{UK-bass-guitarist-stub