In the long, hot summer of 1965, Memphis soul singer William Bell travelled to Los Angeles with Stax Records’ labelmates Booker T and the MGs and Rufus Thomas to play a club date attended by many people from the predominantly Black neighborhood of Watts. “We had such a great reception there,” he said. “It was so popular that people were turned away at the door.”
At the same time, Bell felt tension in the air. “There was a sense in the Black community that something had to give,” he said. “People were tired of being suppressed. It was like a volcano waiting to blow.”
