Lifetime career of Memphis musician ends at SXSW

Alex Chilton

The lead singer of the Box Tops, Alex Chilton, died in his hotel room in Austin Texas of a heart attack. He was getting ready for a performance at the SXSW the mega conference of music and creative arts.

His band mates said he hadn’t been feeling well. “Alex passed away a couple of hours ago,” said band mate Jody Stephens. “I don’t have a lot of particulars, but they kind of suspect that it was a heart attack.” Exclaim.ca

Chilton had early big name success with the hit The Letter when he was 16. The Box Tops had a few lesser hits and broke up in 1970s. Chilton reformed a group as Big Star who became cult favorites. Other hits were In The Street and Thirteen.

He continued to record music, produce other bands and tour for most of his life. Rhino Records released a box set retrospective of his career in 1991 19 Years: A Collection which has gone out of print, although copies are available. A new Rhino box set was being promoted at SXSW.

Apart from all the eulogies, you might want to check out Michael Baker’s in-depth article on Alex Chilton’s career The Glory and Grandeur That Is Defeat The Music of Alex Chilton, RIP Alex Chilton and Rolling Stone.

And now for the music. RIP Alex.

Box Tops The Letter – the boys are obviously lip syncing, which was how you did hits on TV back then, and mocking the process. Today they sing to hard disk and pretend it’s real.

Big Star Thirteen live

Big Star September Girls original

Big Star Nightime original

Related story –Alex Chilton Remembered