Cauley was a founding member of the Bar-Kays, which was the No. 2 house band at the influential Stax recording studio behind Booker T and the MGs.
Advertisement
Cauley and his The Bar-Kays bandmates were Redding’s backing group on an ill-fated 1967 tour, when the twin engine plane they were using to travel to gigs crashed in icy waters in Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin.
“He really loved music”, Cauley’s daughter Chekita Cauley-Campbell told the AP. He will be missed by the Memphis music community, his family and friends.
Cauley-Campbell said her father started singing in church when he was a child.
“He was just a real humble, debonair gentleman”, Cauley-Campbell said. Others found out when the woman took a photo with him and posted it on Facebook.
After the crash, Cauley played with a new version of the Bar-Kays for five years and was in demand as an worldwide performer. He also went on to record with Stax artists like Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, and The Staples.
“No one could play like him”, she said.
Advertisement
Police say the senior citizen was hospitalized with a 1-inch cut and swelling above his eye.
