Don Nix

William Donald Nix (September 27, 1941 – December 31, 2024) was an American musician, songwriter, and producer.^[1] Nix, who was best known for his song "Going Down," was described by AllMusic as "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock."^[2]

Don Nix
Nix, c. 1970s
Background information
Birth name	William Donald Nix
Born	(1941-09-27)September 27, 1941 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	December 31, 2024(2024-12-31) (aged 83) Germantown, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Memphis soul blues rock
Occupations	Musician songwriter producer
Instruments	Guitar vocals saxophone
Years active	1958–2008
Formerly of	The Mar-Keys

Biography

William Donald Nix^[3] was born into a musical family in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 27, 1941. His brother Larry became a mastering engineer for Stax Records and for the Ardent Studios in Memphis.^[4] Nix began his career playing saxophone for the Memphis-based Mar-Keys, alongside Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn. The group scored a hit single with "Last Night" in 1961.^[2] After leaving the Mar-Keys, Nix worked as a session musician for Stax.^[2]

After relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, Nix worked as a producer and songwriter with such acts as Leon Russell, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and Freddie King, among others.^[1][2] Nix's best known composition, "Going Down," was originally released by the band Moloch on their eponymous album in 1969, and has become a blues-rock standard, having been covered by Freddie King, the Jeff Beck Group, the Who, and the Rolling Stones.^[5] In 1971, Nix made the acquaintance of George Harrison, leading to Nix organizing the backup vocalists for the Concert for Bangladesh.^[6]

As a solo artist, Nix released nine albums between 1971 and 2008, and published three books.

Nix died at his home in Germantown, Tennessee, on December 31, 2024, at the age of 83.^[7]

Discography

• In God We Trust (Shelter, 1971)
• Living by the Days (Elektra, 1971)
• Hobos, Heroes and Street Corner Clowns (Enterprise, 1973)
• Gone Too Long (Cream, 1976)
• Skyrider (Cream, 1979)
• Back to the Well (Appaloosa, 1993)
• Goin' Down: The Songs of Don Nix (Evidence, 2002)
• I Don't Want No Trouble! (Section Eight, 2006)
• Passing Through (Section Eight, 2008)

Bibliography

• Road Stories and Recipes (1997), Schirmer Books/Simon & Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-02-864621-5
• Who's That with Don Nix? – A photojournal of Don Nix's personal experiences.
• Memphis Man: Living High, Laying Low (1997, 2015) Sartoris Literary Group, Jackson, Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-941644-39-3

References

1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Blues (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 282. ISBN 0-85112-673-1.
2. "Don Nix | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
3. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Library of Congress Copyright Office. 1971. p. 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
4. "Memphis Man" Living High, Laying Low (1997, 2015) Sartoris Literary Group, Jackson, Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-941644-39-3 p. 100
5. "Newark 15th December, Prudential Center". Rollingstones.com. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
6. O'Dell, Chris; Ketcham, Katherine (2009). Miss O'Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved. New York: Touchstone. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
7. Mehr, Bob (January 1, 2025). "Don Nix, Stax artist, producer and 'Going Down' songwriter, has died at 83". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved January 2, 2025.

External links

• Don Nix at IMDb
• Don Nix discography at Discogs