The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
JEAN KNIGHT
“BIG STUFF”
(Joe Broussard, Ralph Williams, Carrol Washington)
Stax 0088
No. 2 August 14, 1971
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“Mr. Big Stuff” was to be the hit of her life. “It was unbelievable,” said Knight of that peak moment, to
author Marc Taylor. “I almost had to pinch myself to see if it was real…. I went everyplace, all across the
country, and just about every major city in the country.
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Jean Knight was born Jean Caliste, in New Orleans, on January 26, 1943. During the early ’60s, she sang on
weekends in small clubs. Her first recordings date back to some sessions for legend, Cajun king, self-pro
claimed nut Huey Meaux; there were two disks for his Jetstream label and three for his Tribe operation. By
1970, she had hooked up with Wardell Quezerque, a noted New Orleans arranger and producer who had
started out as a trumpet man in Dave Bartholomew’s band. (Wardell had fronted bands like the Sultans and
the Royal Dukes of Rhythm and arranged the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love” and ROBERT PARKER’s “Bare
footin”‘; DR. JOHN had even played piano for him at one point.) Jean Knight worked for Quezerque as a
back-up singer on his sessions.
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Quezerque had made arrangements with Tommy Couch and Wolf Stevenson of Malaco Productions to
record some sides at their studio in Jackson, Mississippi. On May 17, 1970, he brought Jean, King Floyd,
and a number of other acts down to Jackson for a one-off Saturday afternoon session. Knight taped “Mr.
Big Stuff,” and King Floyd did his “Groove Me.” Both waxings would eventually rocket to the top of the R &
B charts.
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Present in the studio was tunesmith Albert Savoy. “He said, ‘Jean, everybody knows you’re flip and sassy,'”
said Jean to Taylor, author A Touch of Classic Soul. “‘Just approach the song like you’re sacking a guy out.’
It felt right, so I just took it and went with it.”
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Initially, no one was interested in leasing the sides from Quezerque. Couch and Stevenson resolved the
situation by forming Chimneyville Records to release the King Floyd track. Once “Groove Me” became a
huge pop hit (#6, 1971), a number of labels began bidding for Wardell’s other Saturday afternoon sides,
Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” included.
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“Big Stuff,” picked up by the Stax label, was a smooth shaker and, once released, a big money-maker. Why
not work that groove again? The follow-up, “You Think You’re Hot Stuff” (#57, 1971), did fair. “That song
wasn’t my idea,” said Knight. “When you’re a fresh star like that, it’s not much say you have. Everybody’s
got everything programmed for you. Stax had a really good song for me called ‘Cold, Bold and Ready.’ It was
hot and I was fired up to do that song, but when I got back from New Orleans, Wardell said, ‘No,’ they had
their own songs. It was a bad move.”
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The next two singles for the Stax label flopped, then Stax folded. Without a label, Jean Knight continued
gigging on weekends locally and attended nursing school. Some singles were issued by Staff, Dial, Chelsea,
Open, Ola ….
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In 1981, Jean’s recording career was revived when a song she had waxed for Isaac Bolden’s Soulin’ label
“You Got the Papers (But I Got the Man)” (R&B: #56,1981), an answer disk to Richard “Dimples” Fields and
Betty Wrights’ “She’s Got the Papers on Me”–was picked up for national release by Cotillion and nicked the
R & B charts. Her tasty cover of Rockin’ Sidney’s Zydeco zinger “My Toot Toot” (#50, 1985) was promising.
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In 1986, Heavy D & The Boys made the charts with their remake of Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.” “It woke me
back up [my career],” said Jean. “That always brings attention back to the person who actually did it.” In
1994, Spike Lee made use of Jean’s recording in his flick Crooklyn.
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When not working as a nurse, Jean Knight still performs in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast area. Quite
probably, we’ve yet to see the end of Jean’s soulful sounds.