Stax Records co-founder Axton dies

NEW YORK (Rolling Stone magazine) - Estelle Axton, the co-founder of the legendary soul imprint Stax Records, has died in the US; she was 85.

Rolling Stone reports that former teacher Axton (the 'ax' in the label's name) and her brother Jim Stewart (the 'St') founded Stax in 1959.
They released over 800 singles and 300 albums by the likes of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T and the MGs before the label finished in 1976.
Last year the former Capitol Theatre in Memphis, once the site of Stax's recording studio and record store, was reopened as the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.