Elvis Costello offers up music-based art to aid the Stax Music Academy
British rocker Elvis Costello is helping the Stax Music Academy. Costello has teamed up with Soundwaves Art Foundation to produce a limited-edition collection of prints based on the audio recording of his 1978 classic “Pump It Up.”
Prints signed by Costello and artist Tim Wakefield, as well as a pair of originals, are being sold with proceeds benefiting the Stax Music Academy.
Costello is a longtime fan of Stax Records -- his cover of Sam & Dave's “I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down” was a top five chart hit in his native U.K. in 1980 -and he has visited the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy numerous times over the years. Most recently Costello paid a visit to Stax earlier this year, where he recorded a video about the Stax Music Academy to mark its 20th anniversary.
The project came about earlier this year, when former Stax Records head Al Bell connected the museum with representatives from the Austin, Texasbased Soundwaves Art Foundation. The non-profit creates art inspired by sound waves from classic songs and enlists the artists (from Carly Simon to the Black Keys to Phil Collins) to sign prints which are sold to benefit charitable and educational organizations around the world.
“Even before the pandemic, the Soundwaves folks were interested in getting involved with Stax,” said Tim Sampson, communications direction for the museum. “They came to Memphis and toured the museum. We gave a list of artists friendly to Stax and supportive of our efforts. Elvis Costello was on that list and they approached him and he agreed to take part.”
The project was announced on Wednesday morning, via Costello's social media accounts. Almost immediately one of the two original pieces and 15 prints were sold. One other original and an additional 35 prints remain available. Original pieces are $2500, while prints run $450.
To learn more, or to purchase art, go to soundwavesartfoundation.com.