William Cunningham (born January 23, 1950) is the original

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist /

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

for the

Box Tops The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", " Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They perfo ...

. Cunningham was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He remained a member of the Box Tops until August 1969, when he decided to return to school to get a music degree in performance of the upright bass. Though Cunningham virtually vanished from the pop music scene after he left the Box Tops, he rose in the ranks of classical musicians, playing in many symphony orchestras (including the Memphis Symphony) and in ballet and opera companies while attending university. During this period he backed artists as diverse as Eddy Arnold, Van Cliburn,

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

, the Romeros (Spanish guitarists), Dionne Warwick, and Itzhak Perlman. Cunningham studied in Philadelphia Pennsylvania with Roger Scott, the principal bassist under Eugene Ormandy, in the mid- to late-1970s. Cunningham played on a number of string sessions for STAX and other Memphis recording artists. One example can be heard on Chris Bell's (

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a ne ...

) song "

You and Your Sister "You and Your Sister" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Chris Bell (musician), Chris Bell, that appears on his only solo album ''I Am the Cosmos''. It was released as a B-side to Bell's only single "I Am the Cosmos." Comparisons have bee ...

," featuring Bell's guitar work and vocals,

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...

backing vocal, and Cunningham's string arrangements and upright bass work. In 1996, Cunningham played the principal role in reforming the original Box Tops. He played bass and shared responsibility for keyboard parts with John Evans on the ''Tear Off'' album. Cunningham has toured with the group since 1997. After a 6 year hiatus following the death of The Box Tops lead singer, Alex Chilton in 2010, Bill and Gary Talley, the original guitarist, reunited The Box Tops and began touring in 2016. In 2017 The Box Tops joined The Happy Together Tour with The Turtles, The Association, The Cowsills, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, and

Ron Dante Ron Dante (born Carmine John Granito, August 22, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fictional cartoon band the Archies; he was also the voice o ...

The Archies ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

. The Summer tour played 48 cities across the U.S. and entertained over 200,000 fans. On September 6, 2018, The Box Tops filmed, live before an audience of 1,700, a German TV special in Hamburg Germany. Other guests on the show included Donovan, Klaus Voormann, Melanie, Peter Fonda, and Rowan Atkinson. European broadcast was scheduled for October 2018. On November 1, 2018, Cunningham was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall Of Fame, as a founding member of The Box Tops. Other inductees that night included, among others, Aretha Franklin and Eddie Floyd. The Box Tops followed

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

in performance at the ceremony. On the Phone with Bill Cunningham of the Box Tops , Sing All Kinds
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References

External links

allmusic.com
1950 births Living people American keyboardists Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee Guitarists from Tennessee American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians The Box Tops members {{US-keyboardist-stub