Alex Chilton’s story is rags to riches in reverse, beginning with teenage rock stardom and heading downward.
Following stints leading 60s sensation the Box Tops and pioneering 70s popsters Big Star, Chilton became a dishwasher. Yet he rose again in the 80s as a solo artist, producer, and trendsetter, coinventing the indie-rock genre. By the 90s, acolytes from R.E.M. to Jeff Buckley embodied Chilton’s legacy, ushering him back to the spotlight before his untimely death in 2010.