Jean Knight born 26 January 1943

Jean Knight (born January 26, 1943) is an African-American soul/R&B/funk singer, best known for her 1971 Stax Records hit single, "Mr. Big Stuff". 

Born Jean Caliste in New Orleans, Louisiana, after graduating from high school she began her singing career in her cousin’s Crescent City bar “Laura’s Place”. She recorded a demo of a cover version of Jackie Wilson's song "Stop Doggin' Me Around."  Her demo attracted record producer Huey Meaux, who signed her to a recording contract at the Jet Star/Tribe record labels. 

Shortly thereafter, Caliste adopted the professional name of "Jean Knight," because she felt that her surname was too hard to pronounce. She recorded four singles, making a name for herself locally, but was not able to attract any national attention. By the late 1960s, it was obvious that her career was not living up to her high expectations, so she went to work as a baker in the cafeteria of Loyola University in New Orleans. 

In early 1970, she was discovered by songwriter Ralph Williams, who wanted her to record some songs. With Williams' connections, she came in contact with record producer Wardell Quezergue. In May of that year, she went to Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, for a recording session during which she recorded "Mr. Big Stuff." After the session was finished, the song was shopped to producers at several national labels, all of whom rejected it. 

When Stax released the song  it was a smash hit, climbing to number 1 on the R&B charts, number 2 on the pop charts, and garnering Knight a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. But just as she rose to great heights almost overnight at Stax, her subsequent recordings on the label never achieved great success and she left the company after her brief stint. 

                             

When King Floyd's hit "Groove Me" (also recorded at Malaco Studios) became a #1 R&B hit in early 1971, a producer at Stax Records remembered Knight's recording of "Mr. Big Stuff," and released it. The song proved to be an instant smash in 1971, reaching #2 on the pop chart and becoming a #1 R&B hit. It went double-platinum and received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female; it lost to Aretha Franklin's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The next year, Knight was named the 'Most Promising Female Vocalist'. 

An album of the same name proved to be fairly successful. A couple more minor hits followed, but disagreements with her producer and her label terminated Knight's involvement with Stax. She then recorded songs for various small labels, but was not able to gain any more recognition. She ended up performing and touring the local oldie circuit. Things changed in 1981, when she met local producer Isaac Bolden who signed her to his label Soulin'. She then recorded a single (under the name Jean Knight & Premium) entitled "You Got The Papers But I Got The Man" (an answer to Betty Wright's hit "I've Got The Papers On The Man").The song was leased to Atlantic for national release; and although the record failed to crack the pop market, it did become a minor R&B/Soul hit.

Soon, Knight found herself touring consistently. In 1985, she gained more recognition when she covered Rockin' Sidney's zydeco novelty hit, "My Toot Toot." Her version proved to be most successful, reaching #50 on the pop chart. Knight was then given a chance to perform it on the TV variety show Solid Gold. 

In the 1990’s, a funny thing happened. “Mr. Big Stuff” became a big hit for the second time! The song became a staple of over 40 compilation albums, numerous TV commercials and movie soundtracks,(recently Two Can Play That Game). Over one million additional copies of “Mr. Big Stuff” had been sold. Riding a wave of new popularity, Ms. Knight recorded “Shaki de Boo Tee” in 1997 for Atlanta’s Ichiban Records. While the album was crafted as a vehicle for the song “Bill”, the highlight for Jean was the five songs produced by her son, Emile Commedore. Two years later, Jean and Emile produced an album titled Queen, which was released by Fomaldehyde Records. Although “Queen” contained a number of solid tunes, the album was poorly marketed and distributed. 

In 2003, Jean Knight was honoured with induction into the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tennessee. She gave a nationally televised performance for the Stax for the concert, "Soul Comes Home."  In 2005, she lost almost her entire New Orleans home and its contents during Hurricane Katrina and lived temporarily in a FEMA trailer in Florida. After returning to her renovated home she started touring again, performing in New Orleans, New York City, and at festivals throughout the United States. She was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in October2007  According to her last webpage entry from 2007 she now controls the creative, recording, and marketing phases of her music through her own label, Comstar.

Here’s a photo of Jean at the 2016 New Orleans Divas at Jazz Fest.  (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)