The Imperial Show Band, led by Tim Whitsett, was a popular national live act in the United States in the 1960s. It is generally regarded as the first integrated band in the state of Mississippi. Formative years Jackson, Mississippi native Whitsett's first record "Jive Harp" b/w "Pipe Dreams" was released on Imperial Records when he was sixteen years old. Heavily influenced by the sounds of nearby New Orleans, Tim Whitsett & The Imperials would become the most popular band in their home state of Mississippi upon its release. They released dozens of R&B, pop, and instrumental records, usually written by Whitsett or co-written with his brother Carson, which were issued on a variety of labels, including Epic, Whitsett's own Rim, and the Jackson label-based Ace, whose president Johnny Vincent was a mentor to Whitsett on his music business. Some of these were sizeable local hits throughout the South and became popular when pirated in England. These 45s are now considered collectables, and Tim Whitsett records sell for very high prices on websites like eBay. Success On the strength of Carson Whitsett's B-3 organ playing and the Tim Whitsett-led horn section, the group was asked to record for Stax Records (before there was a Booker T. & the MGs and "Green Onions") long before the company was a powerhouse. Later, Chips Moman asked the group to be his house band when he started his American Sound Studio. Tim Whitsett turned down both offers because he had his own label (Rim), publishing company (Gulfway), and the band was having their own success. Moman would hire session men like guitarist Reggie Young and record everyone from Wilson Pickett to Neil Diamond to Elvis Presley. Whitsett changed the group's name to The Imperial Show Band, and the group began a successful tour of the country, which included stints in L.A., Lake Tahoe, New York, and a home away from home in Erie, Pennsylvania. With the addition of future southern soul cult figure Tommy Tate on vocals (and later drums as well), they became Tim Whitsett & The Imperial Show Band featuring Tommy Tate. This was significant because other than Memphis's renowned Booker T. & the MGs (who were a house band first, usually regulated to working days and nights in the Stax studio), this made Whitsett's band one of the first, if not the only, integrated bands in the entire Southeastern United States at