List of people from Memphis, Tennessee
This is a list of famous people who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan statistical area, including Crittenden County, Arkansas, DeSoto County, Mississippi, Marshall County, Mississippi, Tate County, Mississippi, Tunica County, Mississippi, Fayette County, Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee, and Tipton County, Tennessee.
This list is in alphabetical order by last name.
- Estelle Axton — co-founder of Stax Records
B
Kathy Bates
Bobby "Blue" Bland
- Archbishop LeRoy Bailey — Senior Pastor of The First Cathedral, A Megachurch in Bloomfield, Connecticut; Clergy
- Lloyd Barbee — Wisconsin legislator and civil rights activist
- The Bar-Kays — musicians
- Kathy Bates — actress
- Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin — poet
- Big Daddy V — wrestler
- Michael Beck — actor, best known for The Warriors
- Diane Meredith Belcher — concert organist, teacher, and church musician
- Chris Bell — musician
- Bobby "Blue" Bland — musician
- Elizabeth Bolden — oldest person in the world during most of 2006
- Charles Boyce — syndicated cartoonist
- Craig Brewer — film director
- Joe Brown — politician
- Isaac Bruce — NFL player for the St. Louis Rams
- Leonard Burton — NFL player
C
Alex Chilton
Edward H. Crump
- Tyrone Calico— NFL player for Tennessee Titans
- Dixie Carter — actress
- Bob Caruthers — Major League Baseball player[1]
- Kellye Cash — Miss America 1987
- Cy Casper — NFL player for Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Gunners, and the Pittsburgh Pirates
- David Catching — musician
- Egypt Central — musicians
- Alex Chilton — musician
- Robert Reed Church, Sr. — entrepreneur and philanthropist.[2]
- Philip Claypool — musician
- Lashundra Trenyce Cobbin — American Idol contestant
- Steve Cohen — politician
- George Coleman — musician
- Barron Collier — businessman
- John Cooper- musician, Skillet
- Hank Crawford — musician
- Steve Cropper — musician
- Edward H. Crump — political boss and U.S. Representative
D
Donald "Duck" Dunn
- Chastity Daniels — musician
- Rick Dees — radio personality
- Nancy Denson — mayor of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
- Shannen Doherty — actress
- Peter C. Doherty — Nobel laureate and scientist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Vol Dooley - Louisiana sheriff
- Donald "Duck" Dunn — musician
- Johnny Dowd — musician
- William B. Dunavant — Businessman, CEO of Dunavant Enterprises
E
- Johanna Edwards — author
- William Eggleston — photographer
- Eightball & MJG — musicians
F
Aretha Franklin
- Ben Ferguson — nationally syndicated talk radio host
- Paul Finebaum— television sports-talk show director and host, and longtime radio sports-talk show host
- Veronica Finn — pop singer of now-disbanded group innocence
- Ric Flair — professional wrestler (adopted at six weeks; raised in Minnesota)
- Rey Flemings — music commissioner
- George L. Forbes — Cleveland City Council President, President of the Cleveland NAACP
- Shelby Foote — author
- Harold Ford, Jr. — politician
- Jacob A. T. Ford — NFL player, Tennessee Titans (son of Fred "Sweet Daddy Goodlow" Ford)
- Abe Fortas — politician and U.S. Supreme Court justice
- Morgan Jon Fox —film director
- Aretha Franklin — singer
G
Al Green
Logan Guleff
- Cassietta George - gospel singer and composer
- David Gest — event and concert producer
- Lee Giles — academic and computer scientist
- Ginnifer Goodwin — actress
- Gwen Shamblin—author and founder of The Weigh Down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship Church
- Yo Gotti — rapper
- Al Green — singer, musician
- Logan Guleff — MasterChef Junior Season 2 winner
- The Gentrys — 1960s rock band with Larry Raspberry and Larry Wall
- Larkin Grimm — folk singer
- Gyft — rapper signed to E1 Music, known for his single They Just Don't Know
H
W.C. Handy
- Richard Halliburton — explorer and author
- Lucy Hale — singer and actress
- George Hamilton — actor
- W.C. Handy — musician
- Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway — professional basketball player
- E. Hunter Harrison — CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway
- Jimmy Hart — singer, pro wrestling personality
- Jon Hassell — musician
- Isaac Hayes — actor and Academy Award-winning musician
- Ingram Hill — band
- Olivia Holt — singer and actress
- John Lee Hooker — blues musician
- John Hulse — porn actor
- Howlin' Wolf — blues musician
J
Mother Jones
- Juicy J — rapper
- Al Jackson, Jr. — musician
- Jon S. Jackson — Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, University of Memphis Law School graduate, represents GTMO detainees
- Quinton "Rampage" Jackson — Mixed martial arts fighter
- Jimi Jamison – singer, songwriter
- Josh Jasper (born 1987) – All-American college football placekicker
- John Wayles Jefferson - mixed-race grandson of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, colonel in the Union Army, successful cotton broker in Memphis after the Civil War
- Michael Jeter — actor
- Ashley Jones — actress
- Booker T. Jones — musician
- Mary Harris "Mother" Jones – prominent labor and community organizer
K
K. Michelle
- Florence Kahn - early Ibsen actress and wife of Max Beerbohm
- George "Machine Gun" Kelly — Great Depression-era bank robber and kidnapper
- Larry Kenon - basketball player, led Memphis State to 1973 NCAA title game
- Carlton W. Kent — Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps
- K.Michelle — musician
L
Jerry Lee Lewis
- Chuck Lanza - NFL player
- Brian Lawler – professional wrestler
- Jerry Lawler – professional wrestler
- Jerry Lee Lewis – musician
- Alan Lightman – novelist and physicist
- Booker Little – musician
- Charles Lloyd – musician
- Jimmie Lunceford — musician
M
Wink Martindale
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Willie Mitchell
- Jim Mabry — Arkansas Razorbacks football All-American
- Terry Manning — music producer
- The Mar-Keys — musicians
- Roy O. Martin, Jr. - timber businessman and philanthropist in Alexandria, Louisiana; born in Memphis in 1921
- Wink Martindale — disc jockey and television personality
- Tim McCarver — professional baseball player and broadcaster
- Hilton McConnico — designer and artist
- Kenneth D. McKellar – long-serving U.S. Senator
- The Memphis Horns – an American horn section
- Memphis Slim – musician
- Shaun Micheel — professional golfer
- Cary Middlecoff — professional golfer
- Lola Mitchell — musician
- Willie Mitchell — musician
- Ryan Miller — professional tennis player
- Allen B. Morgan, Jr. — businessman, founded Morgan Keegan
- Haley Morris-Cafiero — photographer[3]
- Wendy Moten - singer
- Chips Moman — music producer
- Sputnik Monroe — professional wrestler
- David W. Mullins, Jr. – former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve
- Charlie Musselwhite – blues musician
- Zach Myers — lead guitarist for rock band Shinedown
N
Elise Neal
- Elise Neal — actress
- Pat and Gina Neely — celebrity chefs on Food Network
- Hailey Anne Nelson — actress
- Phineas Newborn, Jr. — jazz musician
- Nights Like These — Victory Records metalcore band
O
- Michael Oher — NFL player
P
- Woody Paige— sportswriter, panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn
- Project Pat — rapper
- Cindy Parlow — athlete
- Chris Parnell — actor
- Gilbert E. Patterson — bishop of Church of God in Christ
- Luther Perkins — musician
- Elliot Perry — professional basketball player
- Dewey Phillips — early rock 'n' roll disc jockey
- Sam Phillips — founder of Sun Records
- Danny Pittman — athlete
- David Porter — musician
- Elvis Presley - iconic singer, musician and actor, lived in Graceland
- Tommy Prothro — football coach at UCLA
- Missi Pyle — actress and singer
Q
- Lisa Quinn — actress, author, designer
R
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Otis Redding
- Michael Ramirez — Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
- Jay Reatard — musician
- Otis Redding — musician
- Charlie Rich — musician
- Loren Roberts — professional golfer
- Russell Roberts (economist) — economist
- Adrian Rogers — former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church and president of the Southern Baptist Convention
- Joe Russell – former world backgammon champion
- Lance Russell — pro wrestling announcer
S
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Sam and Dave
Cybill Shepherd
Stella Stevens
- Saliva — musical group
- Sam and Dave (Sam Moore and David Prater) – musicians
- Sam the Sham — musician, leader of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
- William Sanderson — actor
- J. Peter Sartain — Archbishop of Seattle
- Clarence Saunders — inventor and businessman, founder of world's first self-service supermarket, Piggly Wiggly
- Josey Scott – musician
- Dan Schneider — actor
- Will Shade — musician
- Paul Shanklin — voiceover artist and creator of song parodies heard on Rush Limbaugh radio program
- Cybill Shepherd — actress
- George Sherrill — MLB player
- Lee Shippey — journalist
- McKinley Singleton – NBA player, New York Knicks
- Fred Smith — founder and chairman of FedEx
- Lane Smith — actor
- Bobby Sowell — musician
- Marvin Stamm — musician
- Andrew Stevens — actor
- Stella Stevens — actress
- Jim Stewart — record producer and co-founder of Stax Records
- Lewis Ossie Swingler—editor of the Memphis World, editor and publisher of Tri-State Defender
T
- Gary Talley - musician and singer of The Box Tops
Carla Thomas
- Cliff Taylor – NFL player for the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers
- Lloyd Thaxton - television personality
- Carla Thomas — musician and daughter of Rufus Thomas
- Danny Thomas — entertainer and founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Rufus Thomas — musician
- Fred D. Thompson — actor and U.S. Senator (alumnus of the University of Memphis)
- Three 6 Mafia — Academy Award-winning rap musicians
- Justin Timberlake — musician and actor
- Drumma Boy — hip hop music producer
- Ike Turner — musician
V
- Andrew VanWyngarden — musician, lead singer and songwriter of Brooklyn-based psychedelic rock group MGMT
W
Ida B. Wells
Junior Wells
Tennessee Williams
- Sam Walton - football player
- Garrett Wang — actor
- Anita Ward — Disco/dance singer and school teacher; 1979 number one Billboard Hot 100 single "Ring My Bell."
- Thomas Waterson — Memphis police officer who captured Machine Gun Kelly in Memphis raid in 1933
- Ida B. Wells — civil rights advocate and women's rights advocate
- Junior Wells — musician
- David West — former baseball player
- Red West — actor
- Kirk Whalum — musician
- Reggie White — NFL player; began his career with the Memphis Showboats of the USFL
- Maurice White — musician, lead singer of Earth, Wind & Fire
- Bobby Whitlock — musician, keyboardist in Derek and the Dominoes
- John Shelton Wilder — Tennessee politician
- Elliot Williams – former Portland Trail Blazers guard, former first-round NBA draft pick
- Louis Williams — NBA player, Toronto Raptors
- Tennessee Williams — playwright
- Kemmons Wilson – businessman, founder of Holiday Inn
- Mike Wilson, NBA player
- Francis Winkler — NFL player, Green Bay Packers
- Lil Wyte — rapper
- Lorenzen Wright - NBA player
Y
- Roy Yeager – musician
- Thaddeus Young - NBA player (grew up in Memphis)
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to People of Memphis, Tennessee. |
- ↑ Reichler, Joseph L., ed. (1979) [1969]. The Baseball Encyclopedia (4th edition ed.). New York: Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 0-02-578970-8.
- ↑ http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digital/churchrs.htm
- ↑ Clark, Kym (2013-04-26). "Photographer's social experiment gains exposure". WXIX-TV. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
