Donald Dunn (photo right © The Don Nix Collection) was born and raised in Memphis, Donald “Duck” Dunn held down the bottom end of one of the most distinctive and enduring sounds in popular music.

Not Exactly What Dad Had Planned
Born in Memphis on November 24, 1941, Donald “Duck” Dunn was given his nickname by his father as the two watched a Donald Duck cartoon on TV.  Although there was a fiddle-playing grandfather in the family tree, Duck’s family was not one that encouraged music as a career.  “My father was a candy maker…He didn’t want me to go into the music industry.  He thought I would become a drug addict and die.”  Although he tried to conform, Dunn always knew where his talents lay.  Learning music by ear and hanging out with Steve Cropper, Dunn tried to learn guitar and, failing that, picked up the bass when he was about 16 years old.

Right Place – Right Time
Influenced by the rich abundance of Memphis R&B and blues, Dunn and Cropper formed their first band, The Royal Spades, in high school, becoming one of the first white bands around playing rhythm and blues.  The Royal Spades evolved into the Mar-Keys in the late 1950's, and with the connections of band member “Packy” Axton, the group recorded with then Satellite Records (which soon became Stax Records) and scored the first major hit for the new label, “Last Night,” in 1961.

Booker T. & the MGs
When Steve Cropper left the Mar-Keys to become a full-time session musician for Stax, he urged Duck to follow and join Booker T. & the MGs, which in turn became the house band at Stax.  Dunn took over for Lewie Steinberg as the bass player in Booker T. & the MGs in 1964, shortly after their hit “Green Onions.” The band, now composed of Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson and Donald “Duck” Dunn, continued to produce hits with Stax artists and of their own well into the mid 70’s.  Among their biggest hits were “Hang `Em High” and “Soul Limbo.” 

The Memphis Sound
During the late 60’s Dunn, the other MGs, and the Stax songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter comprised the Big 6, a producer’s pool.   Together this team created much of the music that came out of Stax and developed what would become known as the Memphis Sound. Dunn continued to record with Booker T. & the MGs while playing bass on songs by Stax Records’ biggest artists, including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, and Carla Thomas.  To his credit, Dunn held down the bottom end of such timeless recordings as Otis Redding’s “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” Wilson Pickett’s “In The Midnight Hour” and “Hold On I’m Coming” by Sam & Dave.

Blues Brother
Booker T. & the MGs never formally broke up, but Booker T. Jones left Stax in 1969, as Cropper did in 1970. Dunn and Al Jackson continued to work together after Jones and Cropper left, and Dunn collaborated with various songwriting partners such as Sir Mack Rice. Although in 1973 Dunn and Jackson launched a new version of the MGs with Carson Whitsett on organ and Bobby Manuel on guitar, their LP was released to little interest.  Then sadly, in the autumn of 1975, Al Jackson was murdered at his home.  Since 1977 there have been several reunions of Booker T. & the MGs.   The 1980 movie The Blues Brothers brought renewed recognition to the soul genre and the talents of Dunn and Cropper in particular.  Dunn’s credentials have made him a sought-after session bass player; he has recorded with Neil Young, Eric Clapton and Jerry Lee Lewis. 

Defining A Sound
A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recipient of the Rhythm & Blues Pioneer’s Lifetime Achievement Award and on February 10, 2007, became a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with fellow members of Booker T. & the MGs, Duck Dunn helped define one of the most distinctive and enduring sounds in popular music.