A native of
Memphis, and a one-time employee at the
Stax Records store,
before becoming a full-time
songwriter. He says he studied
Motown lyrics,
trying to crack the code, so to speak, that made their writers so successful.
It seemed to work for him. For Carla Thomas (daughter of
Rufus), Porter wrote her big hit "B-A-B-Y", but his most famous work
was as part of a
duo with
Isaac Hayes, formed, perhaps, by
Atlantic
Records'
Jerry Wexler, mainly to write for
Sam and Dave.
The Hayes/Porter team came up with rockers like "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Hold On, I'm Comin'", "You Got Me Hummin'", "Soul Man", "Wrap it Up", and ballads like "A Small Portion of Your Love" (...winds me up like a
clock), and "When Something is Wrong with My Baby" (...something is
wrong with me). Some of these songs have lasted over the decades, on good oldies playlists, or as cover songs (e.g. by the Blues Brothers,
Eurythmics, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds) or as fodder for commercials,
but I'm not sure if Hayes or Porter get royalties from any of it.