Track Listings
1. Chinese Are Clever
2. You All Look Alike To Me
3. Merry Christmas
4. My Tennis Shoes
5. I Like Pork
6. What Women Want
7. Don't Go To Watts / Broad Jumping /
I Love Mexicans / My Old Lady / I Tell The Truth
8. Redd Roxx, Songwriter / The White House Toilets /
Redd Roxx, Hero / No More War / The Big Man / I...
9. The Posse / A Cheaper Trick / The Indian Couple /
Sexx Education / The Pilgrims / Keeping Up With...
Redd Foxx Biography
Foxx was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised on Chicago's
South Side. His mother was part Native American, Seminole,
making Foxx one quarter Seminole Indian. His father, an
electrician, left the family when Foxx was four. He was
raised by his mother, his minister, and his grandmother.
He briefly attended DuSable High School with future Chicago
mayor Harold Washington, but never graduated. Moving to
New York in the early 1940s, he was a well-known associate
of Malcolm Little (later known as Malcolm X). According
to Malcolm's autobiography, Foxx was a dishwasher in the
speakeasy where Malcolm worked as a waiter. (While Little
was known as "Detroit Red," having grown up in
Michigan, Foxx was dubbed "Chicago Red," due to
his reddish hair and complexion. His second stage name was
taken from baseball star Jimmie Foxx.)
Foxx gained notoriety with his raunchy nightclub act. His
stand-up performances were later released as "party"
albums and became very popular. Foxx paved the way for later
black comedians such as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and
Chris Rock.
Sanford and Son
The character of Fred Sanford was named after Foxx's own
brother,
Fred, who had died.
He was also one of the first black comics to play to white
audiences on the Las Vegas Strip. Foxx used his starring
role on Sanford and Son to help get jobs for his friends
such as LaWanda Page, Slappy White, and Noriyuki "Pat"
Morita. Foxx also battled with producers Norman Lear and
Bud Yorkin for higher paychecks and creative control of
the show. Writer Alan Rafkin touched on some of Foxx's clashes
with Lear and Yorkin in the book Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow.
Post-Sanford and Son career and personal woes
In 1977, Sanford and Son was cancelled and Foxx struck out
on his own by starring in a short-lived variety show, but
by the early 1980s he was back playing Fred Sanford in a
brief revival/spin-off, Sanford.
Foxx had numerous battles with the IRS that culminated in
a 1989 "raid" in which agents seized his house
and assets (and even some of the jewelry right off his body).
Foxx openly criticized younger comedians such as Eddie Murphy
for not coming to his aid financially when the IRS was pursuing
his fortune.
Foxx appeared to be making a comeback with the 1991 series
The Royal Family, in which he co-starred with his long-time
friend Della Reese. During a break from rehearsals on October
11, 1991, a fatal heart attack felled him on the set. Reportedly,
Reese and the rest of the cast and crew thought he was doing
his classic (and in this case, ironic) "I'm coming,
Elizabeth" fake heart attack routine he made famous
on Sanford And Son, even going as far as collapsing to the
floor, which was never part of the shtick. However, this
heart attack was for real, and Foxx never regained consciousness.
A few years after Foxx's death several buyers of his home
claimed his property was 'haunted' by him. Some people have
even gone as far as claiming Foxx faked his death because
he still owed the IRS money. Martin Lawrence poked fun of
these claims on the pilot of his sitcom. He said, "The
man is faking it. What would you do if you owed 16 billion
dollars in taxes"?
