Don Nix was an influential American musician, songwriter, and producer, born William Donald Nix on September 27, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee. He emerged from a musical family, with his brother Larry becoming a mastering engineer for Stax Records. Nix began his career playing saxophone with the Mar-Keys, a group that included Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn, and achieved a hit with "Last Night" in 1961. After leaving the Mar-Keys, he worked as a session musician for Stax Records.

During the mid-1960s, Nix moved to Los Angeles, where he expanded his career as a producer and songwriter, collaborating with notable artists such as Leon Russell, John Mayall, and Freddie King. His most famous composition, "Going Down," became a blues-rock standard, covered by artists like Freddie King, the Jeff Beck Group, and the Rolling Stones.

As a solo artist, Nix released nine albums from 1971 to 2008 and authored three books. He was also known for organizing backup vocalists for George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. Nix passed away on December 31, 2024, in Germantown, Tennessee, at the age of 83.