He is a bass guitarist, producer and songwriter
nicknamed "Duck" born in Memphis, Tennessee, to a family where his father
was a candy maker.He grew up with his close friend
and fellow guiratirst Steve
Cropper
and was given his
nickname by his father after they had been watching cartoons on the
television one day.When
his friend Steve
started playing the guitar while in high school with a friend,
he decided to do try his hand at it and after teaching himself began
playing the bass guitar and before too long they were in their own group
The Royal Spades.After being
signed to Satelite Records they released the single "Last Night" in 1961
going by their new name, The Mar-Keys but unfortunately he did not appear
on that recording as he was fishing in Mississippi when it was made.He
later joined Steve
Cropper in
his co-founded Booker T & The MGs after their guitarist Lewis Steinberg
had left in 1964 and appeared on the successful "Hang 'Em High" and "Time
is Tight" among others and also did much session work in the Stax studio. He can be heard on Otis Redding's "Respect"
and "(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay", "Born Under a Bad Sign" by Albert
King, "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett and "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by
Sam & Dave among many other hit records of the time and also on the
album McElmore Avenue which was Booker T & The MGs take on Abbey
Road by The
Beatles .Although Booker T and Steve
Cropper had left the studio, he
remained with Stax throughout the 1970s and would go on to perform
with Jerry Lee Lewis, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Jimmy
Buffett
, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton among many
others.He joined up with Steve
Cropper
again in Levon Helms' RCO All Stars and then after teaming up
with the actor Dan Aykroyd and the Stax drummer Willie Hall he entered into
the world of movies with the incredibly successful The Blues Brothers
Band.The 2000s have seen him supporting
Neil Young and performing as a member of the re-united Booker T. & The
MGs.Appearing on countless
albums throughout his career he can be heard on Southern Lights by
Jerry Lee Lewis, Pain in My Heart and Otis Blue by Otis
Redding, And Now....Booker T & The MGs, Uptight and Sould
Dressing with Booker T & The MGs, Blowing Away by Joan
Baez ,
Shot of Love by Bob
Dylan , Hard Promises by Tom Petty &
The Heartbreakers, In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett, Soul Folk
in Action by The Staples Singers, Atlantic Crossing and A
Night on the Town by Rod Stewart, Pastiche by Manhattan
Transfer ,
Playing My Thang by Steve
Cropper , Briefcase Full of Blue by
The Blues Brothers Band, Back at Cha'! by Sam & Dave, Raised
on Rock/For Ol' Times Sake by Elvis
Presley , Anthology Vol. 2 by
Duane Allman, Will o' the Wisp by Leon
Russell , Knock on Wood
and Rare Stamps by Eddie Floyd, Hot Water by Jimmy
Buffett , Who's
Making Love by Johnnie Taylor, Fathers and Sons by Muddy Waters,
Push Push by Herbie Mann, Just As I Am by Bill
Withers , Blues
for Elvis by Albert King, Money & Cigarettes by Eric
Clapton, Rita Coolidge,Presenting Isaac Hayes by Isaac Hayes
and far too many more to mention. On the business side of things he went
into collaboration with Fender to produce The Duck Dunn P-Bass signature
bass.Now in semi-retirement,
in 2007 he was honoured with a Grammy Award for "Lifetime Achievement" with
the other members of Booker T & The MGs.
