BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN DAVID PORTER AN AMERICAN SOUL MUSICIAN BEST KNOWN AS THE SONGWRITING AND PRODUCTION PARTNER OF ISAAC HAYES : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                                  BLACK              SOCIAL              HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       David Porter  born November 21, 1941 is an American soul musician. Porter is best known as the songwriting and production partner of Isaac Hayes at Stax Records during the 1960s. He later became a Stax recording artist himself.

Biography]

He was the youngest of twelve children born to James and Cora Porter in Memphis, his second oldest brother was COGIC Bishop Willie L. Porter (1925-2009). Porter began his career in music after graduating from Booker T. Washington High in 1959. Later he started hang in out at Stax Records and developed his skill as a songwriter. As house composers for Stax Records, Porter and Hayes penned most of Sam & Dave's hits, including "Soul Man", "I Thank You", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'". They also wrote material for Carla Thomas("B-A-B-Y"), Johnnie Taylor ("I Got to Love Somebody’s Baby" and "I Had a Dream"), and The Soul Children. Starting in the late 1960s, Hayes became increasingly involved in his own recording career, eventually leading to the end of the partnership. The Hayes-Porter duo composed 200 songs during their collaboration.

Porter then began recording his own albums for Stax. He also released on other labels under the pseudonyms Little David and Kenny Cain, and had done a single for Stax itself in 1965, "Can't See You When I Want To", a remake of which became a Top 30 R&B hit for Porter. He cut several albums for Stax in the early 1970s, including a concept LP, Victim of the Joke? which includes an upbeat cover of The Beatles' "Help!".

Porter began working with songwriting partner Ronnie Williams, and later went on to engineer the brief relaunch of the Stax label in 1978, after the bankrupt label's assets were acquired by Fantasy Records.

He and Hayes received Pioneer Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999. On June 9, 2005, Porter was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Bill Withers, Steve Cropper, Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman, John Fogerty, and his longtime writing partner Isaac Hayes.