Music producer and promoter Eddie Phelps, who bought the former Bizerte Jazz Bar in 1960 and turned it into a night club for Soul music acts like The Temptations, James Brown, B.B. King, Etta James, The Coasters Little Richard and The Impressions Ike and Tina Turner Fats Domino Wilson Pickett Eddie Kendricks Jackie Wilson The Staple Singers Joe Tex Sam and Dave Pigmeat Markham Lewis Jordan Otis Redding Muddy Waters Gladys Knight and the Pips Count Basie performed in the 450 person venue; Billboard Magazine noted in 1978 that Phelps Lounge "has been an almost mandatory stop for touring soul performers for almost two decades