James Alexander (born December 17, 1948) is an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and R&B

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. He is a longtime member of the band the

Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

, for which he plays

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 ...

Early life and family

Alexander was born at McLemore Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. In a 2014 interview, he stated that the clinic was across the street from Stax Records' headquarters, and that he grew up about a block away from Stax. Alexander attended Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis. He is the father of noted hip-hop and R&B producer Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, whom he named after his best friend and late Bar-Kays bandmate

Phalon Jones Phalon R. Jones, Jr. (1948 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul and R&B musician. Jones was a saxophonist for musical group the Bar-Kays, which recorded with and also played backup for Otis Redding. Jones and three other members of the Ba ...

. Contrary to widespread belief, James Alexander's relationship, which produced his son Phalon, was not with R&B and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

singer Deniece "Niecy" Williams, but rather with another woman (herself an experienced singer) named Denise Williams.

Career

James Alexander was the bassist for the Bar-Kays when four of the six band members, including Jones, were killed in the same plane crash that claimed the life of soul singer

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

. Alexander was the only Bar-Kays member not aboard that flight. According to a 2014 news article, before the plane departed, Alexander volunteered to return the band's rental car and take a commercial flight to the band's next engagement. Other accounts state that the plane, a Beechcraft owned by Redding, only held eight occupants (Redding, five of the Bar-Kays, the pilot and Redding's road manager), and that it was Alexander's turn in the rotation to board a commercial flight to the next destination. Alexander had the task of identifying the bodies of his bandmates, as well as that of Redding. After the crash, Ben Cauley, the sole survivor among those who were aboard the plane, worked with Alexander to reform the band. Subsequent work included the soundtrack recording of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

from the 1971 feature film '' Shaft'', on which Alexander played bass guitar. As of 2018, Alexander was the only original member performing in the still-active

References

1949 births Living people African-American guitarists American funk bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee The Bar-Kays members Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians {{US-bass-guitarist-stub