Raymond Earl Jackson (September 11, 1941 – November 10, 1972) was an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

songwriter, guitarist and record producer. His most successful songs, mostly written at

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. ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were " Who's Making Love", co-written with

Homer Banks Homer Banks (August 2, 1941 – April 3, 2003) was an American songwriter, singer and record producer. Although best known by many for his songwriting for Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s, some of his own releases from the 1960s are considere ...

and Bettye Crutcher; "

(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" is a song written by Stax Records songwriters Homer Banks, Carl Hampton, and Raymond Jackson. Originally written for The Emotions, it has been performed by many singers, most notably by Lu ...

", and " If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", both co-written with Banks and Carl Hampton.

Life

Jackson grew up in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. With his friend and lifelong musical partner

, he formed his first group, the Soul Consolators, in his teens, and the pair wrote the group's songs together. After serving in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

between 1966 and 1968, he renewed his songwriting partnership with Banks, who had begun working at Stax Records. They wrote

Johnnie Taylor Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000) was an American recording artist and songwriter who performed a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco. He was initially suc ...

's 1968 single "Next Time", before joining with a new, fellow songwriter Bettye Crutcher to write "Who's Making Love". Jackson also played guitar on the record, which became Taylor's biggest early hit, reaching no. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and no. 5 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. The songwriting trio of Jackson, Banks, and Crutcher remained together for the next two years, calling themselves We Three They were able to make more hits with compositions including Taylor's "Take Care Of Your Homework" and "I Could Never Be President"; and

Carla Thomas Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She is best known for her 1960s recordings for Atlantic and Stax including the hits " Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" (1960) ...

' "I Like What You're Doing (To Me)". Jackson and Banks then worked with Carl Hampton to write further hits for

The Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American Gospel music, gospel, soul music, soul, and Rhythm and blues, R&B singing group. Pops Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group w ...

Luther Ingram Luther Thomas Ingram (November 30, 1937 – March 19, 2007) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. His most successful record, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 3 ...

The Emotions The Emotions are an American soul/ R&B vocal group from Chicago. The group started out in gospel music but transitioned into R&B and disco music. The Emotions were named by VH1 as one of the 18 most influential girl groups of all time. Hist ...

and others. These included "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", first recorded by Ingram on Johnnie Baylor's KoKo label, which was distributed by Stax. Ingram's version made no. 1 on the R&B chart in 1972. The song was later recorded by many other artists including (the unrelated)

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson's songs o ...

. Jackson also co-wrote Ingram's "I'll Be Your Shelter (In Time Of Storm)"; and the Staple Singers' "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" and " Touch a Hand, Make a Friend". Raymond Jackson died as a result of a house fire in November 1972, at the age of 31.

Family

Jackson's sons, Raymond Earl Jackson Jr. and Cornelius Jackson, are also musicians, who formed We Three Productions with Jimi Hill in 2020. His brother Robert Jackson worked as an engineer at Stax Records, and later worked at Ardent Studio and as

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

' manager.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Raymond 1941 births 1972 deaths Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee American soul musicians African-American songwriters Deaths from fire in the United States Songwriters from Tennessee United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War United States Army soldiers 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American songwriters