FAME Recording Studios in 2010 by Carol M. Highsmith

FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios are located at 603 East Avalon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 1950s to the present. Artists who recorded there included Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Duane Allman, The Hour Glass, Clarence Carter, Candi Staton, Mac Davis, Paul Anka, Tom Jones, Etta James, Andy Williams, The Osmonds, Shenandoah, and many others. The studio was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997.^[1]

History[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Rick Hall at FAME Studios in 2010 by Carol M. Highsmith

Founded by Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford in the late 1950s, the studio was first located above the City Drug Store in Florence, Alabama. The facility was moved to a former tobacco warehouse on Wilson Dam Road in Muscle Shoals in the early 1960s, when Hall split from Sherrill and Stafford. Hall soon recorded the first hit record from the Muscle Shoals area, Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On". ^[2]

Hall took the proceeds from that recording to build the current facility on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, and in 1963, Hall recorded the first hit produced in that building, Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away."^[1]

As the word about Muscle Shoals began to spread other acts began coming to Muscle Shoals to record. Nashville producer Felton Jarvis brought Tommy Roe and recorded Roe's song "Everybody." Atlanta Music Publisher Bill Lowery, who had mentored Hall through his early days, sent The Tams. Nashville Publisher/Producer Buddy Killen brought Joe Tex, while Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler brought Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett to record.

The session musicians who worked at the studio became known as the "Muscle Shoals Horns" and the "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section". In 1969, members of the rhythm section left to found a rival studio, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

As the hits kept coming, Hall expanded into the area of teen pop hits with The Osmonds, a vocal group from Utah, featuring the younger brother Donny Osmond. The collaboration resulted in the hit "One Bad Apple," among others, and helped Hall to become named "Producer of the Year" in 1971.

As the decade of the 70s rolled in, Hall began moving into country music, first with vocalist Bobbie Gentry who recorded the album "Fancy", and then with singer/songwriter Mac Davis, who topped both the Pop and Country charts with "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me". Davis recorded four gold albums at FAME, with the singles "Texas In My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked On Music" becoming hits on both the country and pop charts.

Hall continued producing country hits in the 1980s, including Jerry Reed's #1 records, "She Got The Goldmine" and "The Bird". He also started Gus Hardin's career with the popular "After The Last Good-bye" and had a smash album with Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers, Houston To Denver. Hall's productions on T.G. Sheppard's LPs include Livin' On The Edge, It Still Rains In Memphis and One For The Money. Top 20 singles during included "Fooled Around And Fell In Love". Top 10 singles included "In Over My Heart" and "Doncha?". Top 5 singles include "Strong Heart", "One For The Money" and a #1 single, "You're My First Lady".

Hall then returned to the way he did it in the beginning, developing new artists. A local country band that was playing in a club down the street from FAME Studios came to his attention and he and Robert Byrne co-produced an LP on the group Shenandoah. Hall made a record deal with CBS Records and the group thereafter had top 10 singles with "She Doesn't Cry Anymore" and "See If I Care" , top 5 singles with "Mama Knows" and "The Moon Over Georgia", and six number 1 singles with "The Church On Cumberland Road", "Sunday In The South" , "Two Dozen Roses", "Next To You, Next To Me", "Ghost In This House" and "I Got You".

External links[link]

• FAME Studios (Official website)
• NPR: The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound

References[link]

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.

A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100. Among his best known hits are "In the Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".^[1]

The impact of Pickett's songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[2]

Early life[link]

Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama,^[1] and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs.

He was the fourth of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away and) cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.^[3]

Early musical career (1955–1964)[link]

Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit,^[2] under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he later referred to as "the architect of rock and roll.^[4]

In 1955, Pickett became part of a gospel music group called the Violinaires. The group accompanied The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours across the country.^{[citation needed]} After singing for four years in the locally popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of other gospel singers of the day, who left gospel music in the late 1950s for the more lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.^[2]

The Falcons were one of the first vocal groups to bring gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The Falcons also featured some notable members who went on to become major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were also members of the group. Pickett's biggest success with The Falcons came in 1962, when "I Found a Love," (co-authored by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals), peaked at #6 on the R&B chart, and at #75 on the Hot 100.^[1]

Soon after recording "I Found a Love," Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry," his first collaboration with Don Covay. Around this time, Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, called "If You Need Me." A slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon, Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler heard the demo and gave it to one of the label's own recording artists, Solomon Burke. Burke's recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, #37 Pop) and is now considered a soul standard, but Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. However, when Pickett—holding a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's personal studio, Wexler asked him whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over".^[5] "First time I ever cried in my life".^{[citation needed]} Pickett's version of the song was released on Double L Records, and was a moderate hit, peaking at #30 R&B, #64 pop.

Pickett's first big success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it eventually peaked at #7 on the R&B chart (#49 Pop). This record's success convinced Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L Records in 1964.

Rise to stardom: In The Midnight Hour (1965)[link]

Pickett's Atlantic career began with a self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic next paired him with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a duet with singer Tami Lynn, but this single failed to chart.^[1]

Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965).^[6] This song became Pickett's first big hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop (US), and #12 (UK).^[1] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[7]

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, which also included bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, did not play on any of the Pickett studio sessions.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper later explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here this was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."^{[citation needed]}

Stax/Fame years (1965–67)[link]

Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965, and was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd and/or Steve Cropper; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone.

For his next sessions, Pickett would not return to Stax; the label's owner, Jim Stewart, banned all outside productions in December, 1965. As a result, Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios, another recording studio with a closer association to Atlantic Records. Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there. This included the highest charting version of "Land of 1,000 Dances", which became Pickett's third R&B #1, and his biggest ever pop hit, peaking at #6. it was another million selling disc.^[7]

Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two other covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", (#6 R&B, #23 Pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway", (R&B #1, #8 Pop).^[1] Both tracks were million sellers.^[7] The band heard on almost all of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham and drummer Roger Hawkins.^[8]

Later Atlantic years (1967–1972)[link]

Towards the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and also began recording numerous songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm In Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come A Long Way," "I'm A Midnight Mover," (a Pickett/Womack co-write), and "I Found A True Love" were all Womack penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. Pickett also recorded work by other songwriters during this era; Rodger Collins' "She's Looking Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were also Top 40 Pickett hits recorded at American. Womack was the guitarist on all these recordings.

Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, Hawkins and Bassist [Jerry Jemmott]. A #16 pop hit cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" came from these Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".

Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 Pop) and The Archies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 Pop), as well as the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 Pop) came from these sessions.

Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, "Get Me Back On Time, Engine No.9" and "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You", the latter selling one million copies.^[7]

Following these two big hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the band featuring David Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This line-up recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1".^[1] It was another Pickett recording that clocked up sales in excess of one million copies.^[7] Two further hits followed in '71: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 Pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 Pop), a cover of a song by Free.

Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come," was actually culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.

In 2010, Rhino Handmade released a comprehensive compilation of these years titled "Funky Midnight Mover – The Studio Recordings (1962–1978)". The compilation included all originally issued recordings during Pickett's Atlantic years along with previously unreleased recordings. This collection was sold online only via Rhino.com.

Post-Atlantic recording career[link]

Pickett continued to record with some success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was no longer crossing over to the pop charts with any regularity, as none of these songs reached higher than #90 on the Hot 100. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades, occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts, however he never had another pop hit after 1974. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until he became ill in 2004. Pickett appeared in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000, performing "634–5789" along with Eddie Floyd and Jonny Lang.

Personal life and honors[link]

Outside of music, Pickett's personal life was troubled. Even in his 1960s heyday, Pickett's friends found him to be temperamental and preoccupied with guns; Don Covay described him as "young and wild".^{[citation needed]} Then in 1987, as his recording career was drying up, Pickett was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car.^{[citation needed]} In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the front lawn of Donald Aronson, the Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.^[9] The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

In 1993, Pickett was involved in an accident where he struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood.^[9] Ruiz, who helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year.^[10] Pickett pled guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation.^[11][12] Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was continually honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Pickett was also a popular songwriter, as songs he wrote were recorded by artists like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, The Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.

Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy Award nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback also resulted in his being honored as 'Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year' by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.^[13] It's Harder Now was voted 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year' and 'Soul/Blues Album of the Year.'

In 2003, he co-starred in the D.A. Pennebaker directed documentary Only the Strong Survive, a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was also a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[14]

Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates a year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album.^[4] However, he never recovered.

Death[link]

Pickett died from a heart attack on January 19, 2006 in Reston, Virginia. He was 64.^[15] He was laid to rest in a mausoleum in Louisville, Kentucky at Evergreen Cemetery on Preston Highway. The eulogy was delivered by Pastor Steve Owens of Decatur, Georgia. Little Richard, a long-time friend of Pickett's, spoke about him and preached briefly at the funeral.^[4] Pickett spent many years in Louisville when his mother moved there from Alabama. He was remembered on March 20, 2006, at New York's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, Ben E King, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny in front of an audience that included members of his family, including two brothers.

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

^[1]

Albums[link]

• It's Too Late (1963, Double L)
• In The Midnight Hour (1965, Atlantic)
• The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966, Atlantic) US: #21
• The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #35
• The Wicked Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #42
• The Sound of Wilson Pickett (1967, Atlantic) US: #54
• I'm In Love (1967, Atlantic) US: #70
• The Midnight Mover (1968, Atlantic) US: #91
• Hey Jude (1969, Atlantic) US: #97
• Right On (1970, Atlantic)
• Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia (1970, Atlantic) US: #64
• The Best Of Wilson Pickett, Vol. II (1971, Atlantic) US: #73
• Don't Knock My Love (1972, Atlantic) US: #132
• Mr. Magic Man (1973, RCA) US: #187
• Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1973) US: #178
• Miz Lena's Boy (1973, RCA) US: #212
• Pickett In The Pocket (1974, RCA)
• Live In Japan (1974, RCA)
• Join Me And Let's Be Free (1975, RCA)
• Chocolate Mountain (1976, Wicked)
• Funky Situation (1978, Big Tree)
• I Want You (1979, EMI) US: #205
• Right Track (1981, EMI)
• American Soul Man (1987, Motown)
• A Man And A Half: The Best Of Wilson Pickett (1992, Rhino/Atlantic)
• It's Harder Now (1999, Bullseye Blues)
• Live And Burnin' – Stockholm '69 (2009, Soulsville)
• Live In Germany 1968 (2009, Crypt Records 2009)
• Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Studio Recordings (1962–1978) (2010, Rhino)^[1]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Ross, Andrew and Rose, Tricia (Ed.). (1994). Microphone fiends: Youth music and youth culture. Routledge: New York. ISBN 0-415-90908-2
• Hirshey, Gerri. Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music. Da Capo Press; Reprint edition (September 1, 1994) ISBN 0-306-80581-2
• Hirshey, Gerri (February 9, 2006). Wilson Pickett, 1941–2006. Rolling Stone #933.
• Sacks, Leo. Liner notes to "A Man And A Half: The Best of Wilson Pickett" (1992, Rhino).
• Guralnick, Peter (1999). Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-316-33273-6. OCLC 41950519. http://www.isbnlib.com/preview/0316332739/Sweet-Soul-Music-Rhythm-and-Blues-and-the-Southern-Dream-of-Freedom. 

External links[link]

• Unterberger, Richie. Wilson Picket 1999 induction profile via Alabama Music Hall of Fame
• Wilson Pickett via classicbands.com
• Escott, Colin. The Wicked Wilson Pickett.
• Boone, Mike. In The Midnight Hour. via soul-patrol.com
• Associated Press (19 January 2006). Soul Singer Wilson Pickett Dies at 64
• Muskal, Michael (19 January 2006). Soul Pioneer Wilson Pickett Dies at 64. Los Angeles Times
• Epstein, Dan (19 January 2006). Soul Legend Wilson Pickett Dies. Rolling Stone
• Leeds, Jeff (19 January 2006). Wilson Pickett, 64, Soul Singer of Great Passion, Dies. New York Times
• Jansen, Lex (19 January 2006). Wilson Pickett at the Heart of Rock and Soul
• Article About Wilson Pickett – by Dr. Frank Hoffmann
• Wilson Pickett at Rolling Stone
• Wilson Pickett article, Encyclopedia of Alabama

Duane Allman
At Fillmore East, 1971
Background information
Birth name	Howard Duane Allman
Also known as	Skydog
Born	(1946-11-20)November 20, 1946 Nashville, Tennessee
Died	October 29, 1971(1971-10-29) (aged 24) Macon, Georgia
Genres	Southern rock, blues, blues-rock, soul, rock, jazz
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1961–1971
Labels	Mercury, Capricorn
Associated acts	The Hour Glass, Wilson Pickett, The Allman Brothers Band, Derek and the Dominos, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Gregg Allman, The Allman Joys
Website	AllmanBrothersBand.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Les Paul Gibson SG Fender Stratocaster Gibson ES-345

Duane Allman (born Howard Duane Allman; November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder and leader of the The Allman Brothers Band, until his early death in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 24.

ABB was formed in 1969 and, unusually for the time, based in the Southeastern United States. In the early 1970s the band was hugely successful. Duane is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in that band and in particular for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills.^[1] In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Allman at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix and in 2011 he was ranked #9.^[2] His tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest guitar tones of all time by Guitar Player.^[3]

A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Herbie Mann. He also contributed heavily to the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos.

Duane Allman’s skills as a guitarist were complemented by personal qualities such as his intensity, drive and ability to draw the best out of others in making music.^[4] He is still referred to by his nickname "Skydog".^[5]

Early years[link]

Duane Allman was born November 20, 1946 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the eldest son of Willis Allman, a career United States Army sergeant, and Geraldine (née Robbins). His younger brother Gregg Allman was born in late 1947.

While the family were living near Norfolk, Virginia, his father was murdered by a fellow veteran hitchhiker.^[6] In order to retrain as an accountant, Geraldine "Mama A" Allman sent Duane and Gregg to Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, which they both disliked intensely.^[7] In 1957, the family moved to Daytona Beach, Florida where the boys attended Seabreeze High School.

The boys returned to Nashville to spend summers with their grandmother where Gregg learned guitar basics from a neighbour. In 1960, Gregg had saved enough money to buy his first guitar, a Japanese-made Teisco Silvertone while Duane acquired a Harley 165 motorbike which he soon wrote off. So Duane began to take an interest in the guitar leading to fights over it and eventually their mother bought Duane a Gibson Les Paul Junior.^[8]

It was also in Nashville that the boys became musically inspired by a rhythm and blues concert they attended, at which blues guitar legend B. B. King performed. Apparently, Duane turned to Gregg and said, "We got to get into this." ^[8]

Duane learned to play very quickly and soon became the better guitarist of the two, dropping out of high school to stay home during the day and focus on developing his guitar skills.

Allman Joys and Hour Glass[link]

The two Allman brothers started playing publicly in 1961, joining or forming a number of small, local groups. Shortly thereafter, Duane quit high school to stay home during the day and focus on his guitar playing. Their band the Escorts opened for The Beach Boys in 1965 but disbanded and eventually became the Allman Joys. After Gregg graduated from Seabreeze High School in 1965, the Allman Joys went on the road, performing throughout the Southeast and eventually being based in Nashville and St. Louis, Missouri.

The Allman Joys morphed into another not-completely-successful band, The Hour Glass, which moved to Los Angeles in early 1967. There the Hour Glass produced two albums that left the band unsatisfied. Liberty, their record company, tried to market them as a pop band, completely ignoring the band's desire to play more blues-oriented material.

In 1968, Gregg Allman went to visit Duane on his 22nd birthday. Duane was sick in bed. Gregg brought along a bottle of Coricidin pills for his fever and the debut album by guitarist Taj Mahal as a gift. "About two hours after I left, my phone rang," Gregg states. "Baby brother, baby brother, get over here now!" When Gregg got there, he found that Duane had poured the pills out of the bottle, washed off the label and was using it as a slide to play "Statesboro Blues", an old Blind Willie McTell song that Taj Mahal covered. "Duane had never played slide before," says Gregg, "he just picked it up and started burnin'. He was a natural."^{[citation needed]} The song would go on to become a part of the Allman Brothers Band's repertoire, and Duane's slide guitar became crucial to their sound.

The Hour Glass broke up in early 1968, and Duane and Gregg Allman went back to Florida, where they played on demo sessions with the 31st of February, a folk rock outfit whose drummer was Butch Trucks. Gregg returned to California to fulfill Hour Glass obligations, while Duane jammed around Florida for months but didn't get another band going.

Session musician[link]

Allman's playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968 Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album, Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later said, "I remember hearing Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude' and just being astounded by the lead break at the end. I had to know who that was immediately—right now."

Allman's performance on "Hey Jude" blew away Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler when Hall played it over the phone for him. Wexler immediately bought Allman's recording contract from Hall and wanted to use him on sessions with all sorts of Atlantic R&B artists. While at Muscle Shoals, Allman was featured on releases by a number of artists, including Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Laura Nyro, Wilson Pickett, Otis Rush, Percy Sledge, Johnny Jenkins, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie and jazz flautist Herbie Mann. Shortly after he recorded the lead break in "Hey Jude", he recorded all of the lead guitar in Boz Scaggs' "Loan Me a Dime". For his first sessions with Aretha, Allman traveled to New York, where in January 1969 he went as an audience member to the Fillmore East to see Johnny Winter and told fellow Shoals guitarist Jimmy Johnson that in a year he'd be on that stage. That December, the Allman Brothers Band indeed played the Fillmore.

Formation of The Allman Brothers Band[link]

The limits of full-time session playing frustrated Allman. The few months in Muscle Shoals were by no means a waste, however; besides meeting the great artists and other industry professionals he was working with, Allman had rented a small, secluded cabin on a lake and spent many solitary hours there refining his playing. Perhaps most significantly, Allman got together with R&B and jazz drummer Jaimoe Johanson, who came to meet Allman at the urging of Otis Redding's manager, Phil Walden, who by now was managing Allman and wanted to build a three-piece band around him. Allman and Jaimoe got Chicago-born bassist Berry Oakley to come up from Florida and jam as a trio, but Berry was committed to his rock band with guitarist Dickey Betts, the Second Coming, and returned south.

Getting fed up with Muscle Shoals, in March Allman took Jaimoe with him back to Jacksonville, Florida, where they moved in with Butch Trucks. Soon a jam session of these three plus Betts, Oakley, and Reese Wynans took place and forged what all present recognized as a natural, or even magical, bond. With the addition of brother Gregg, called back from Los Angeles to sing and replace Wynans on keyboards, at the end of March 1969, the Allman Brothers Band was formed. (Wynans became well known over a decade later as organist with Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.) After a bit of rehearsing and gigging, the sextet moved to Macon, Georgia, in April to be near Walden and his Capricorn Sound Studios. While living in Macon, Allman met Donna Roosman, who bore his only child, Galadrielle. Despite their child, the relationship quickly ended.

[edit] Success: Layla, At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band went on to become one of the most influential rock groups of the 1970s, described by Rolling Stone's George Kimball in 1971 as "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years."^[9] After months of nonstop rehearsing and gigging, including free shows in Macon's Central City Park and Atlanta's Piedmont Park, the group was ready to settle on the Allman Brothers Band name, and to record. Their debut album, The Allman Brothers Band, was recorded in New York in September 1969 and released a few months later. In the midst of intense touring, work began in Macon and Miami (Atlantic South - Criteria Studios), and a little bit in New York, on the band's second album, Idlewild South. Produced mostly by Tom Dowd, Idlewild South was released in August 1970 and broke new ground for them by quickly hitting the Billboard charts.

A group date in Miami, also that August, gave Allman the chance to participate in Eric Clapton's Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Clapton had long wanted to meet Allman; when he heard that the Allman Brothers were due to play in Miami, where he had just started work on Layla with producer Tom Dowd, he insisted on going to see their concert, where he met Allman. At one point, Allman approached Clapton, fully admiring his ability to play guitar as much as Clapton admired his, and cautiously asked Clapton if he could come by the studio to watch. Clapton was in no way reluctant to say yes, as he knew that his masterful playing combined with Allman's would be greater than the sum of its parts. After the show the two bands—the Allman Brothers Band and Derek and the Dominos—returned to Criteria, where Allman and Clapton quickly formed a deep rapport during an all-night jam session.^[10] Allman wound up participating on most of the album's tracks, contributing some of his best-known work. Allman never left the Allman Brothers Band, though, despite being offered a permanent position with Clapton. Allman never toured with Derek and the Dominos, but he did make three appearances with them on December 1, 1970 at the Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa (Soulmates LP) and the following day at Onondaga County War Memorial, and one appearance (or possibly just Delaney Bramlett or both Duane and Delaney) November 20, 1970^[11] at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, California.

In an interview, Duane told listeners how to tell who played what: Eric played the Fender parts and Duane played the Gibson parts. He continued by nonchalantly noting that the Fender had a sparklier sound, while the Gibson produced more of a "full-tilt screech".^[12]

The Allman Brothers went on to record At Fillmore East in March 1971. Meanwhile, Allman continued contributing session work to other artists' albums whenever he could. According to Skydog: the Duane Allman Story, Allman was in the habit of spontaneously dropping in at recording sessions and contributing to whatever was being taped that day. He received cash payments but no recording credits, making it virtually impossible to compile a complete discography of his works.

Allman was well known for his melodic, extended and attention-holding guitar solos. During this period two of his stated influences were Miles Davis and John Coltrane, having listened extensively to Kind of Blue for two years.^[12][13]

As Allman's distinctive electric bottleneck steel sound began to mature it evolved in time into the musical voice of what would come to be known as Southern Rock, being picked up and redefined in their own styles by slide guitarists that included bandmate Dickey Betts (after Duane's passing), Rory Gallagher, Derek Trucks and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Death[link]

Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident only months after the release and initial success of At Fillmore East.^[14] While in the western part of Macon on October 29, 1971 during a band break from touring and recording, Allman was riding his motorcycle at high speed toward an intersection as a flatbed truck carrying a lumber crane approached. The flatbed truck stopped suddenly in the intersection, forcing Duane to swerve his Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle sharply to the left to avoid a collision. As he was doing so, he struck either the back of the truck or the ball on the lumber crane and was immediately thrown from the motorcycle. The motorcycle bounced up in the air and landed on Allman and proceeded to skid another 90 feet with Duane pinned underneath, crushing his internal organs. Though he was still alive when he arrived at the hospital, despite emergency surgery, he died several hours later from massive internal injuries. He was just weeks from his 25th birthday.

Memorial[link]

After Allman's funeral and some weeks of mourning, the five surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band carried on, resuming live performances and finishing the recording work interrupted by Duane's death. They named their next album Eat a Peach for Duane's response to an interviewer's question: "How are you helping the revolution?" Allman replied: "There ain't no revolution, only evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I 'eat a peach' for peace." Released in February, 1972, this double album contains a side of live and studio tracks with Allman, two sides of "Mountain Jam", recorded with Duane at the same At Fillmore East stand in March, and a side of tracks by the surviving five member band.

Bass guitarist Berry Oakley died less than 13 months later in a similar motorcycle crash with a city bus, three blocks from the site of Duane Allman's fatal accident. Oakley's remains were laid to rest beside Duane Allman's in Macon, Georgia's Rose Hill Cemetery.

The variety of Allman's session work and Allman Brothers Band bandleading can be heard to good effect on two posthumous Capricorn releases, An Anthology (1972) and An Anthology Volume II (1974). There are also several archival releases of live Allman Brothers Band performances from what the band calls "Duane's Era".

Shortly after Duane's death, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd dedicated the song "Free Bird", to the memory of Duane Allman. Van Zant would sometimes allude to this in concert; in the "Free Bird" performance at Skynyrd's famed 1976 appearance at Knebworth, England, Van Zant says to pianist Billy Powell, "Play it for Duane Allman." Many people assume the song was written about Duane. However, it had actually been written well before Duane died. (Allen Collins wrote the song after his then girlfriend asked him the question "if I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?")

In 1973, fans carved the very large letters "REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN" in a dirt embankment along Interstate Highway 20 near Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[15][16] A photograph was published in Rolling Stone magazine and in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll; the carving itself lasted for over ten years.^[17]

In 1998 the Georgia State Legislature passed a resolution designating a stretch of State Highway 19, US 41, within Macon as the "Duane Allman Boulevard" in his honor.^[18]

Country singer Travis Tritt, in the song "Put Some Drive In Your Country" on his debut album, sings "Now I still love old country/I ain't tryin' to put it down/But damn I miss Duane Allman/I wish he was still around."

Equipment[link]

Allman Joys, Hour Glass[link]

• Fender Telecaster, modified with a Stratocaster neck.^[19]
• Marshall amplifier, with six 10-inch speakers and two horns.^[19]

Early session work[link]

• 1954 Fender Stratocaster, used on the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio studio sessions, now at the Hard Rock Cafe in London at the Vault.^[20]
• Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, which used old 9V batteries because "they make a special sound."
• Fender Twin Reverb with JBL speakers.^[19]
• Maestro Echoplex.^[19]
• 1959 Fender Bassman.^[19]

Allman Brothers Band, "Layla", later session work[link]

• 1961 Fender Stratocaster (for early session work overlapping with formation of the Band).^[19]
• 1958-1962 Gibson ES-345 Semi-hollow body (first album)^[20]
• 1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard goldtop, serial no. 7 3312. Traded on September 16, 1970 for a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst, except for the pickups.
• 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst, acquired on September 16, 1970, except for the pickups.
• 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard tobacco sunburst,^[20] acquired in June 1971.
• 1961 Gibson SG,^[20] used for slide,^[19] given by Dickey Betts.
• Marshall 50-watt^[3] head, two Marshall 4x12 cabinets with JBL speakers.^[19]
• Fender Champ combo amplifier ("Layla")

Other[link]

• Gibson L-00 acoustic guitar^[19]
• Fender Rock N' Roll 150 strings (Hour Glass)
• Coricidin medicine bottle (slide)

Discography[link]

Biography portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

• Duane Allman.com
• Duane Allman on allmanbrothersband.com
• Duane Allman.info
• In memory of Duane Allman: 35 years after his death, Skydog still among rock's very best guitarists, on MSNBC
• The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
• Georgia House of Representatives SR653, designating Duane Allman Boulevard and Raymond Berry Oakley Bridge
• "Duane Allman". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1189. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 
• Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1995

Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann and Will Lee (1975)
Background information
Born	(1930-04-16)April 16, 1930 Brooklyn, New York United States
Origin	United States
Died	July 1, 2003(2003-07-01) (aged 73)
Genres	Jazz, bossa nova, disco, world music
Occupations	musician, record label executive
Instruments	Flute, saxophone, bass clarinet
Years active	1953–2003
Labels	Atlantic Records, Cotillion Records, Embryo Records, Kokopelli Records
Associated acts	Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto
Website	http://www.herbiemannmusic.com/ Official Site

Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003),^[1] known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinets (including bass clarinet), but Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute and was perhaps jazz music's preeminent flutist during the 1960s. His most popular single was "Hijack," which was a Billboard number-one dance hit for three weeks in 1975.

Mann emphasized the groove approach in his music. Mann felt that from his repertoire, the "epitome of a groove record" was Memphis Underground or Push Push, because the "rhythm section locked all in one perception." ^[2]

Biography[link]

Herbie Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents of Romanian and Russian descent.^[3][4] He attended Lincoln High School in Brighton Beach. His first professional performance was playing the Catskills resorts at age 15. In the 1950s Mann was primarily a bop flutist, playing in combos with artists such as Phil Woods, occasionally playing bass clarinet, tenor saxophone and solo flute.

Mann was an early pioneer of the fusion of jazz and world music^{[citation needed]}. In 1959, following a State Department sponsored tour of Africa, he recorded Flutista, an album of Afro-Cuban jazz. In 1961 Mann toured Brazil, returning to the United States to record with Brazilian musicians, including Antonio Carlos Jobim and guitarist Baden Powell. These albums helped popularize bossa nova in the US and Europe. He often worked with Brazilian themes. In the mid-1960s Mann hired a young Chick Corea to play in some of his bands. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Mann played duets at New York City's Bottom Line and Village Gate clubs, with the late Sarod virtuso Vasant Rai.

Following the 1969 hit album Memphis Underground a number of disco-style smooth jazz records brought criticism from jazz purists but allowed Mann remain active during a period of declining interest in jazz. The musicians on these recordings are some of the best-known session players in soul and jazz, including singer Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston), guitarists Duane Allman and Larry Coryell, bassists Donald "Duck" Dunn and Chuck Rainey and drummers Al Jackson and Bernard Purdie. In this period Mann had a number of pop hits — rare for a jazz musician. According to a 1998 interview Mann had made at least 25 albums that were on the Billboard 200 pop charts, success denied most of his jazz peers." ^[5]

Mann provided the music for the 1978 National Film Board of Canada animated short Afterlife, by Ishu Patel.

In the early 1970s he founded his own label, Embryo Records, distributed by Cotillion Records, a division of Atlantic Records.^[6] Embryo produced jazz albums, such as Ron Carter's Uptown Conversation (1970); Miroslav Vitous' first solo album, Infinite Search (1969); Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival (1971); and Dick Morrissey and Jim Mullen's Up (1976), which featured the Average White Band as a rhythm section; and the 730 Series, with a more rock-oriented style, including Zero Time (1971) by TONTO's Expanding Head Band. He later set up Kokopelli Records after difficulty with established labels. In 1996, Mann collaborated with Stereolab on the song "One Note Samba/Surfboard" for the AIDS-Benefit album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization. His last appearance was on May 3, 2003 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at age 73. He died at age 73 on July 1, 2003 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Further Discography and Biography
• National Public Radio's Jazz Profiles: Herbie Mann

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul music and rhythm and blues (R&B), and one of the greatest singers in popular music. His open-throated singing was an influence on other soul singers of the 1960s, and he helped to craft the lean and powerful style of R&B that formed the basis of the Stax Sound. After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he wrote and recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", which became a number-one record on both the pop and R&B charts after his death in a plane crash.

Redding was born and raised in the American state of Georgia. At age 15, he left school to support his family by working with Little Richard's backing band, The Upsetters, and by playing talent shows for prize money. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins's band, The Pinetoppers, and toured the Southern United States while serving as driver and musician. An unscheduled appearance on a session led to a turning point in his career. He signed a contract with Stax Records and released his debut album, Pain in My Heart, in 1964. This album produced his first Stax single, "These Arms of Mine".

Although Redding's initial popularity was with African Americans, he later became equally popular among the broader American public. He and his group first played small gigs in the South, then performed at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub, their first concert in the western United States. Internationally, Redding later performed in Paris and London among other venues. Redding's death was devastating for Stax, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Later Stax discovered that Atlantic Records owned the rights to the entire catalog. Redding received many accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because of his influence on other artists, he received the honorific "King of Soul".

Early life[link]

Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia to gospel singer Otis Redding, Sr., and housekeeper Fannie Redding. His father had worked as a sharecropper and then at Robins Air Force Base, on weekends sometimes as a part-time preacher. When Redding was three, the family moved to Tindall Heights, a predominantly African American public housing project in nearby Macon. For a short time they lived in a small house in Bellevue. When it burned down the family moved back to Tindall.^[4] At an early age, he sang in the Vineville Baptist Church choir and learned guitar and piano. From the age of 10, he took drum and singing lessons. Later, at Ballard-Hudson High School, he sang in a school band. Every Sunday he earned US$6 by performing songs for Macon radio station WIBB.^[5] His passion was singing and often cited Little Richard and Sam Cooke as major influences. Redding said, "If it hadn't been for Little Richard, I would not be here. I entered the music business because of Richard – he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his Rock 'n' Roll stuff, you know. Richard has soul, too. My present music has a lot of him in it."^[6][7]

At age fifteen, Redding abandoned school to help his family financially. His father had contracted tuberculosis and was often hospitalized, leaving his mother as the primary financial provider for the family.^[4] Redding worked as a well digger, gas station attendant and guest musician in the following years. Another inspiration for Redding was the pianist Gladdy Williams, a well-known Macon musician. She often performed at Hillview Springs Social Club, where Redding sometimes played piano. When she hosted talent shows on Sundays, Redding accompanied his friends from the neighborhood, such as Little Willie Jones and bassist Eddie Ross.^[8] His breakthrough came when he played Little Richard's "Heebie Jeebies", winning a $5 contest fifteen weeks in a row, until being banned.^[9] Redding was soon hired by Little Richard's band The Upsetters. He was well-paid at about $25 per gig,^[4][5] but he did not stay for long.^[10]

In 1958, Redding had the opportunity to compete on disc jockey Hamp Swain's "The Teenage Party", a music contest at the Roxy Theatre, then at the Douglass Theatre.^[11] His backing band was not professional, so gig attendee Johnny Jenkins offered help. Jenkins later worked as lead guitarist and played with Redding on several gigs; with Jenkins' help, he won the contest every week.^[12] Shortly afterwards, he was invited to replace Willie Jones, frontman of Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panters, featuring Jenkins on guitar.^[8] At the age of 19, Redding met 15-year-old Zelma Atwood at "The Teenage Party". She gave birth to Redding's son, Dexter, in the summer of 1960 and married Redding in August 1961.^[13] In mid-1960, he moved to Los Angeles with his sister, Deborah, and wrote his first songs including "She's Allright", "Tuff Enuff", "I'm Gettin' Hip" and "Gamma Lamma", the first later released as a single.^[5]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

As a member of the Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panters, Redding toured in the Southern United States, especially on the Chitlin' circuit. These performance venues were safe for African-American musicians during the era of racial segregation which lasted into the early 1960s.^[14][15] Jenkins left the band to become the featured artist with The Pinetoppers.^[16] Around this time, Redding met Phil Walden, the future founder of the recording company Phil Walden and Associates (even though he had no associates),^[17] and later Bobby Smith, who ran Confederate Records, a small label. He signed with Confederate and recorded his second single, "Shout Bamalama" (a rewrite of "Gamma Lamma"), together with his band Otis and the Shooters.^[5][18] Wayne Cochran, the only solo artist signed to Confederate, became Pinetoppers' bass guitarist.^[16]

Next, Redding wrote the song, "These Arms of Mine". At the same time, Walden started to look for a record label. Atlantic Records representative Joe Galkin was interested in working with Jenkins and around 1962 proposed to send him to a Stax studio in Memphis. On the way to a Pinetoppers studio session, Redding drove for Jenkins, as the latter did not have a driver's license.^[19] Jenkins performed with Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and when the session ended early, Redding received the opportunity to perform two songs. The first was "Hey Hey Baby", but studio chief Jim Stewart thought it sounded too much like Little Richard. The second was "These Arms of Mine", featuring Jenkins on piano and Steve Cropper on guitar. Stewart later praised Redding's performance of the latter song and noted, "Everybody was fixin' to go home, but Joe Galkin insisted we give Otis a listen. There was something different about [the ballad]. He really poured his soul into it."^[13][20] Stewart signed Redding for Stax and released "These Arms of Mine", with "Hey Hey Baby" on the B-side. The single was released on Volt on October 1962, but charted in March the following year.^[21] It became one of his most successful songs, selling more than 800,000 copies.^[22]

[edit] Apollo Theater and Otis Blue

	These Arms of Mine noicon Sample of "These Arms of Mine". Redding's first released Volt single, it became his most successful until "I've Been Loving You".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"These Arms of Mine" and other songs from the 1962–1963 sessions were included on Redding's debut album, Pain in My Heart. "That's What My Heart Needs" and "Mary's Little Lamb" were recorded in June 1963, the latter became one of the worst-selling singles by Redding.^[21] The title track, recorded on September, the next year, sparked some copyright issues, as it sounded like Irma Thomas' "Ruler of My Heart".^[21] Despite this, Pain in My Heart was released on January 1, 1964 and peaked at number 20 on Billboard's R&B chart and at number 85 on Billboard's Hot 100.

In November 1963, Redding and his brother, Rodgers, accompanied former boxer Sylvester Huckaby to the Apollo Theater in New York to record a live album for Atlantic Records, entitled T'Ain't Nothin' To Me. They travelled in a 1963 Ford XL Cabriolet, first to Bluefield, West Virginia, then through Virginia, Maryland, and finally to New York. Redding and his band were paid $400 per week, but had to pay $450 to King Curtis' band for the sheets of notes. Subsequently, the trio returned to Phil Walden and requested money. The boxer explained in Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music their living circumstances in the rundown Theresa Hotel. He also spoke about meeting with Muhammed Ali and other stars. Ben E. King, who performed with Redding at the Apollo, gave him $100 when he heard about his financial situation. The album that resulted from the concert featured soul musicians Ben E. King, The Coasters, Doris Troy, Rufus Thomas, The Falcons and Redding.^[23]

The release of T'Ain't Nothin' To Me brought success to Redding and his band. Their tour car evolved from a plain wagon, to a van, to a minibus, and then a tour bus. Around this time, Phil Walden was drafted by the army, as was Redding's brother Rodgers; Walden's younger brother Alan joined Redding on his tours, while Earl "Speedo" Sims replaced Rodgers. The company, Phil Walden & Associates, grew to one of the most popular R&B booking agencies.^[24]

After he released the song "Security", the majority of Redding's songs had a slow tempo, causing disc jockey Moohah Williams to label Otis Redding as "Mr. Pitiful".^[25] Subsequently Cropper and Redding wrote a song with that name^[13] and included it on Redding's second studio album, The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, released in March 1965.^[26] Jenkins began working independently from the group out of fear that Galkin, Walden, and Cropper might plagiarize his playing style during the sessions. It was previously suggested that he should back Redding during the time "These Arms of Mine" was on the charts.^[27] Around 1965, Redding co-wrote the song "I've Been Loving You Too Long" with The Impressions lead singer Jerry Butler in a hotel near the Atlanta airport. That summer, Redding and the studio crew arranged new songs for his next album, and ten of the eleven songs were written in a 24-hour period during July 9–10 in Memphis. Two songs, "Ole Man Trouble" and "Respect", had been finished earlier. "Respect" and "I've Been Loving You" were later recut in stereo during the Otis Blue-session, with the remarkable change that on the first song the line "hey hey hey" was sung by Earl Sims and not by Redding, while the latter song was completely rewritten.^[26] The album, entitled Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, was released in September 1965.^[28]

Whisky a Go Go and "Try a Little Tenderness"[link]

	Try a Little Tenderness noicon Sample of "Try a Little Tenderness". The song, written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods in the 1930s, has been frequently covered by many artists. Clarinetist Ted Lewis was the first to record a successful cover. Redding's rendition has been named the 204th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone.[29][30]
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Redding's success allowed him to buy a 300-acre (1.2 km²) ranch in Georgia, which he called the "Big O Ranch." After his death, the property was extended to a 460-acre (1.9 km²) area.^[31] Stax was also doing well. Walden signed more and more musicians, including Percy Sledge, Johnnie Taylor, Clarence Carter and Eddie Floyd, and together with Redding they founded the production companies "Jotis Records" (derived from Joe Galkin and Otis), on which only four recordings were released, two by Arthur Conley and one by Billy Young and Loretta Williams, and Redwal Music (derived from Redding and Walden).^[32] Their audience had been mostly black, but Stax fans like The Beatles encouraged Redding to perform for a large, white audience. They chose Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Redding was one of the first soul artists to perform in the Western United States. His performance received critical acclaim, including positive press in Los Angeles Times, and pushed him further into the mainstream. Bob Dylan attended the performance and offered Redding an altered version of one of his songs, "Just Like a Woman",^[13] but Redding did not record it, as he felt it contained "too much text".^[33] Redding said that was the "biggest mistake" of his career, according to a private press release issued on September 8, 2011, for a special exhibit at the Stax Museum.^[34]

In late 1966, Redding returned to the Stax studio. On this session he recorded tracks including "Try a Little Tenderness", originally written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods in 1932.^[29] Today it is often considered his signature song.^[35] Jim Stewart said, "If there's one song, one performance that really sort of sums up Otis and what he's about, it's 'Try a Little Tenderness'. That one performance is so special and so unique that it expresses who he is. ... If you want to wrap it up, just listen to [it]." On this version Redding was backed by Booker T. & the MG's, and staff producer Isaac Hayes worked on the arrangement.^[36][37] "Try a Little Tenderness" was included on his next album, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul. The song and the album were critically and commercially successful—former peaked at number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and at number 4 on R&B singles chart.^[38]

The spring of 1966 marked the first time that Stax scheduled a series of gigs in a number of cities.^[39] Walden and his crew did so as they intended to reach a wider audience. The majority of artists arrived in London, where R&B was popular thanks to artists like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles,^[37] on March 13, but Redding had flown in days earlier because of multiple interviews and an appearance in "Eamonn Andrews Show". When the crew arrived in London, The Beatles sent their limousine near the airport to pick up the band.^[39] Redding began touring Europe six months later.^[40] Prior to that, booking agent Bill Graham proposed that Redding play at the Fillmore Theatre around the late 1966. The performance was commercially and critically successful,^[37] prompting Graham to remark afterwards, "That was the best gig I ever put on in my entire life."^[41]

Last studio album and Monterey[link]

A year after the Fillmore, Redding released the studio album King & Queen, backed by Carla Thomas on vocals. The idea to produce a duet album was Jim Stewart's, as he thought it would progress their musical career, and that "[Redding's] rawness and [Thomas'] sophistication would work".^[42] The album was recorded in January 1967, while Thomas was studying at Howard University in Washington D.C. where she earned her M.A. in English. Ten out of six songs were cut during their session; the rest was overdubbed by Redding in the days following, due to their concert obligations. Three singles were lifted from the album, "Tramp", the first cut song, was released as a single in April, "Knock on Wood", and "Lovey Dovey", all three peaking at least in the top 60 charts on both the R&B and Pop charts.^[42] Redding and Thomas were awarded a gold plaque for this album Thomas recorded a solo-album, in Washington D.C. at the Bohemian Caverns, entitled The Queen Alone, but the album was never released.^[43]

Redding returned to Europe to perform at the Paris Olympia. The album entitled Otis Redding: Live in Europe was released three months later featuring this performance. Other live performances were in London and Stockholm.^[31] Redding was criticized for his arrogant and contrived performances in these last concerts. His controversial decision to take his protege Arthur Conley (whom Redding and Walden had contracted directly to Atco/Atlantic Records rather than to Stax/Volt) on the tour, instead of more established Stax/Volt artists such as Rufus Thomas and William Bell, received negative responses. Al Bell was active in the Stax reorganization, undertaking routine business and managing tours for Redding and others, the latter task formerly done by Estelle Axton, Stewart's sister. He was later hired as the new A&R head, replacing Steve Cropper, as the crew thought he would act superior.^[37][44]

The place Redding wrote his song "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", in the San Francisco Bay

In 1967, Redding performed at the influential Monterey Pop Festival as the closing act on Saturday night, the second day of the festival. He was included on the bill through the efforts of promoter Jerry Wexler, who saw the festival as an opportunity to advance Redding's career.^[45] Until that point, Redding had performed mainly for black audiences.^[46] Redding's act, well received by the audience, included his own song "Respect" and a version of the The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction".^[47] Redding and his backing band (Booker T and the MGs with the Mar-Keys horn section) opened with Cooke's "Shake" before he delivered an impulsive speech in which he asked the audience if they were the "love crowd", looking for a big response. The ballad "I've Been Loving You" followed. The last song was "Try a Little Tenderness", with an additional chorus. With a last "I got to go, y'all, I don't wanna go", Redding left the stage. This would be his last major concert.^[35] According to Sweet Soul Music, people such as Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix were captivated by his performance; Robert Christgau wrote in Esquire, "The Love Crowd screamed one's mind to the heavens."^[48]

After Monterey, Redding wanted to record with his close friend Arthur Conley, but Stax was against the idea. The two moved from Memphis to Macon to continue writing. The result was "Sweet Soul Music", based on Sam Cooke's "Yeah Man".^[32] It peaked at number 2 on Billboard Hot 100.^[49][50] By that time Redding had developed polyps on his larynx, which he tried to treat with tea and lemon or honey. He was hospitalized in September 1967 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York to undergo surgery.^[51]

In the winter of 1967, Redding again recorded at Stax. One new song was "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", which was written by Cropper and Redding while they were staying with friend, Earl "Speedo" Sims, in a houseboat in Sausalito near San Francisco, California.^[52] Redding was inspired by the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and tried to create a similar sound, against the label's wishes. It also met with dissatisfaction from his wife for its atypical melody. However, Redding wanted to change his musical style to avoid boring his audience. Meanwhile, the Stax crew were also dissatisfied with the new sound; Stewart thought that it was not R&B, while bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn thought the sound would damage Stax's reputation. However, Redding thought it was the best song he ever wrote and believed it would top the charts.^[53] Redding whistled at the end, either forgetting Cropper's ending rap,^[54] or paraphrasing it intentionally.^[55]

Death[link]

By 1967 the band had taken to traveling on Redding's Beechcraft H18 to gigs. They flew to Nashville, and on December 9, 1967, appeared on the nationally-syndicated Upbeat television show produced in Cleveland. They played three concerts in two nights at a small club called Leo's Casino.^[50][56][57] After a phone call with his wife and children, Redding's next stop was in Madison, Wisconsin. On the next day they were to play at the "Factory" nightclub near the University of Wisconsin after the opening act "The Grim Reapers", precursor of Cheap Trick.^[56][58]

Although the weather was poor, with heavy rain and fog, and Redding had been warned to postpone the flight, they did not stop their trip.^[59] Four miles from their destination at Truax Field in Madison, the pilot radioed for permission to land. Shortly thereafter, the plane crashed into Lake Monona. Ben Cauley, one of The Bar-Kays and the accident's only survivor,^[50] was sleeping shortly before the accident. He woke just before impact, and saw his bandmate Phalon Jones look out a window and exclaim, "Oh, no!" Cauley said the last thing he remembered before the crash was unbuckling his seat belt. He then found himself in frigid water, grasping a seat cushion to keep afloat.^[51] The cause of the crash was never determined.^[60] The only other Bar-Kays to survive were James Alexander and Carl Sims, who instead flew on a commercial flight for lack of room on the H18.^[61] Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson of The Memphis Horns had earlier declined to take part in the tour.^[50][62]

Redding died just three days after recording Dock of the Bay, on the third anniversary of Sam Cooke's death.^[43][50] His unexpected death was a shock for friends and family. Aretha Franklin stated, "I heard it on the TV. My sister Caroline and I stopped everything and stayed glued to the TV and radio. It was a tragedy. Shocking."^[63]

Redding's body was recovered the next day when the lake bed was searched.^[64] Many musicians asked the family to postpone the funeral from December 15 to December 18 so that they could attend.^[63] The service took place at the City Auditorium in Macon, attended by many prominent musicians. More than 4,500 people came to the obsequy, overflowing the 3,000-seat hall, although many did not know who he was. Johnny Jenkins did not come, fearing his reaction would be worse than Zelma Redding's.^[65] Redding was entombed at his ranch in Round Oak, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Macon.^[66] Jerry Wexler delivered the eulogy.^[67] Redding was survived by his wife and three children, Otis III, Dexter and Karla.^[68] In November 8, 1987, a memorial plaque was placed on the lakeside deck of the Madison convention center, Monona Terrace.^[69]

Posthumous releases and proposed recordings[link]

"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968 and became Redding's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and the first posthumous number-one single in US chart history.^[70] It sold approximately four million copies worldwide and received more than eight million airplays.^[71][72] The album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach the top spot on the UK Albums Chart.^[73]

Shortly after Redding's death, Atlantic Records, distributor of the Stax/Volt releases, was purchased by Warner Bros. Stax was required to renegotiate its distribution deal, and found that Atlantic actually owned the entire Stax/Volt catalog. Stax was unable to regain the rights to its recordings, and severed its relationship with Atlantic. Atlantic also held the rights to all unreleased Otis Redding masters.^[74] It had enough material for three new studio albums—The Immortal Otis Redding (1968), Love Man (1969), and Tell the Truth (1970)—all issued on its Atco Records.^[74] A number of successful singles emerged from these LPs, among them "Amen" (1968), "Hard to Handle" (1968), "I've Got Dreams to Remember" (1968), "Love Man" (1969), and "Look at That Girl" (1969).^[74] Singles were also lifted from two live Atlantic-issued Redding albums, In Person at the Whisky a Go Go, recorded in 1966 and issued in 1968 on Atco, and Monterey International Pop Festival, a Reprise Records release featuring some of the live Monterey Pop Festival performances of The Jimi Hendrix Experience on side one and all of Redding's performances on side two.

In September 2007, the first official DVD anthology of Redding's live performances was released by Concord Music Group, then owners of the Stax catalog. Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding featured 16 full-length performances and 40 minutes of new interviews documenting his life and career.^[75] On May 18, 2010, Stax Records released a two-disc recording of three complete sets that he played at the Whisky a Go Go in April 1966.^[76]

Plans were made by Carla Thomas to record another duet album in December the same year, although Phil Walden disputed this claim. There was also a proposal by Redding to record an album featuring cut and rearranged songs in different tempo; for example, ballads would be uptempo and vice versa.^[77] Another suggestion was to record an album entirely consisting of country standards.^[78]

Songwriting[link]

In his early career, Redding mostly covered songs from popular artists, such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, or Solomon Burke. Around the mid-1960s he wrote his own songs—always taking along his cheap, red acoustic guitar—and sometimes asked for the Stax member's opinion of the lyric's quality. He often worked on lyrics with other musicians, such as Earl Sims, his brother Rodgers, Sylvester Huckaby, Phil Walden or Steve Cropper. During the time of regeneration, Redding wrote about 30 songs in a session lasting about two weeks.^[79] Typical was his free improvisation during the song's end.^[80] Most of lyrics of his songs were about love, leading to his nickname of "Mr. Pitiful". Redding was the sole copyright holder on all of his songs.^[81]

In "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" he abandoned the romantic themes and replaced them with "sad, wistful introspections, amplified by unforgettable descending guitar riffs by Cropper".^[82] On the official website of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, it was suggested that the song "was a kind of brooding, dark voicing of despair, ('I've got nothin' to live for/Look like nothin' gonna come my way')" as "his music, in general, was exultant and joyful". According to the journalist Ruth Rob, author of the liner notes for the 1993 box-set by Rhino Records, "It is currently a revisionist theory to equate soul with the darker side of man's musical expression, blues. That fanner of the flame of 'Trouble's got a hold on me' music, might well be the father of the form if it is, the glorified exaltation found in church on any Sunday morning is its mother." And further on the site declares that "glorified exaltation indeed was an apt description of Otis Redding's songwriting and singing style."^[83] Booker T. Jones compared Redding with Leonard Bernstein stating, "He was the same type person. He was a leader. He'd just lead with his arms and his body and his fingers."^[84]

Otis Redding favored short and simple lyrics over long and complicated; When asked whether he intended to cover Dylan's "Just Like a Woman", he responded that the lyrics were "too long".^[33] Furthermore, he stated in an interview:

Basically, I like any music that remains simple and I feel this is the formula that makes 'soul music' successful. When any music form becomes cluttered and/or complicated you lose the average listener's ear. There is nothing more beautiful than a simple blues tune. There is beauty in simplicity whether you are talking about architecture, art or music.^[85]

Beside the songwriting, Redding also arranged horn lines, always humming to show the horn section what notes he had in his mind. His horn arrangements were described by the blowers as complicated and difficult. The song "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" reflects his habit to hum with the horn section.^[86] Apart from songwriting, Redding served as a record producer, arranger, and talent scout.^[87]

Personal life and wealth[link]

Redding, who was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 220 pounds (100 kg), was an athletic family man who loved football and hunting.^[79][88] He was described as vigorous, trustworthy,^[33] naturally full of fun and vitality,^[68] and as a true businessman. Biographer Peter Guralnick has said Redding would even have been respected by the Ku-Klux-Klan.^[33] According to several people, Redding's personality was not fully matured neither on stage nor in public life. His brother Rodgers thought he was "confused", while Alan Walden described him as "naive". He was not only a musician, company founder, talent scout and record producer, but was also active in philanthropic projects. Through his keen interest for the Black youth he intended to build a summer camp for disadvantaged people from urban slums and ghettos.^[85]

Redding was a very wealthy person. According to several advertising copies, he had around 200 suits, 400 pair of shoes, and he earned about $35,000 per week for his concerts.^[89] For the "Big O Ranch" he spent about $125,000. As the owner of the Otis Redding Enterprises of Macon, he earned through performances, music publishing ventures and royalties from record sales more than a million dollars in 1967 alone.^[63] One columnist said, "in one year ... he sold more records than Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin combined."^[90]

Style[link]

Redding appeared a little bit clumsy on stage, and he sometimes received advice from Rufus Thomas. Jerry Wexler said Redding "did not even know how to move", and "stood stock-still and moved only his upper body". However, Wexler later explained Redding was well received by the audience, as his delivered strong message was noticeable.^[91] Author Peter Guralnick explains in Sweet Soul Music this painful vulnerability, which was attractive for the audience, but not for his friends and partners, as such a feeling was not known in Redding's self-assurance. His early shyness was well-known.^[84] Redding was, however, known for his generally electrifying performances.^[92] After the release of Otis Blue, Redding became a "catalogue" artist, meaning that his albums were not immediately million-sellers, but were rather sold continually over the years.^[32]

Another characteristic was his raw voice and the ability to convey strong emotion. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic noted his "hoarse, gritty vocals, brassy arrangements, an emotional way with both party tunes and aching ballads."^[93] In the book Rock and Roll: An Introduction, authors Michael Campbell and James Brody suggested that "Redding's singing calls to mind a fervent black preacher. Especially in up-tempo numbers, his singing is more than impassioned speech but less than singing with precise pitch."^[94] According to the book, "Redding finds a rough midpoint between impassioned oratory and conventional singing. His delivery overflows with emotion" in his song "I Can't Turn You Loose".^[94] Booker T. Jones, an American musician, described Otis' singing as energetic and emotional, but said that his vocal range was limited, including neither low nor high notes.^[95] Peter Buckley of The Rough Guide To Rock describes his "gruff voice, which combined Sam Cooke's phrasing with a brawnier delivery" and later suggested he "could testify like a hell-bent preacher, croon like a tender lover or get down and dirty with a bluesy yawp".^[87]

Legacy[link]

Otis Redding has been called the "King of Soul",^[96] an honorific title also given to James Brown^[97] and Sam Cooke.^{[98][99][100]} He remains one of the most recognized artists in soul music. His lean and powerful style exemplified the Stax Sound,^{[87][101][102]} and gave Stax a new identity; he was sometimes said to be its "heart and soul",^[103] while artists such as Al Jackson, Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper also helped to expand its structure.^[102] His open-throated singing,^[101] the tremolo/vibrato, the manic, electrifying stage performances,^[92] and honesty were particular hallmarks, along with the use of interjections, for example "gotta, gotta, gotta", some of which came from Sam Cooke.^[33][103] Producer Jim Stewart thought the "begging singing" was stress-induced and also caused by Redding's extreme, early shyness.^[84] Early on he copied the singing style of Little Richard, one of his idols, but gradually developed his own style. He was primarily influenced by soul musicians such as Little Richard and Sam Cooke, whose live album Live at the Copa was a strong influence,^[33] but later explored different genres that were popular during his time. He studied contemporary music of The Beatles, Bob Dylan. The influence of rock musicians such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, can be heard in songs like "Hard to Handle", which contains rock and roll elements.^[104]

Artists from many genres named Redding as a musical influence. The Beatles were generally influenced by the soul music of Motown Records and Stax. Guitarist George Harrison called "Respect" an important influence for "Drive My Car".^[105] The Rolling Stones also mentioned Redding an important influence.^[106][107] Other artists who have acknowledged the influence of Redding are bands like Led Zeppelin,^[108][109] The Grateful Dead,^[110] Lynyrd Skynyrd,^[111] The Doors;^[110] and virtually every soul/R&B musicians from the early years, such as Al Green, Etta James,^[31] William Bell,^[110] Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Arthur Conley.^[112] Several musicians from the late 20th century have covered or mixed his songs, perhaps the most notable being the Grammy Award-winning "Otis" by Kanye West and Jay-Z.^[19][31] According to band colleague Sam Andrew, Janis Joplin was influenced by his singing style. She herself stated that she learned "to push a song instead of just sliding over it" after hearing Redding.^[113]

Awards and honors[link]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1989, declared Redding's name to be "synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."^[114] Readers of the British music newspaper Melody Maker voted him as the top vocalist of 1967, superseding Elvis Presley, who had topped the list for the prior 10 years.^{[71][112][115]} In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issued an Otis Redding 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.^[116] Redding was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994,^[83] and in 1999 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.^[117] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three Redding recordings, "Shake", "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", and "Try a Little Tenderness," among its list of "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."^[118] American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Redding at number 21 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"^[119] and number 8 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".^[95] Q ranked Redding at number 4 on "100 Greatest Singers", after only Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, respectively.^[120]

Five of his albums, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, Dreams to Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology, The Dock of the Bay, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul and Live in Europe, were ranked by Rolling Stone on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The first album was singled out for praise by music critics; apart from the Rolling Stone listing at number 74, NME ranked it 35 on their list of the "Greatest Albums of All Time",^[121] while Time listed it on their "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.^[122] In 2002, the city of Macon honored its native son by unveiling a memorial statue in the city's Gateway Park. The park is next to the Otis Redding Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Ocmulgee River.^[123] The Rhythm and Blues Foundation named Redding as the recipient of its 2006 Pioneer Award.^[124] Billboard awarded Redding the "Otis Redding Excellence Award" the same year.^[31] A year later he was inducted into the Hollywood's Rockwalk in California.^[72] In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Redding's death, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1988,^[72] presented the first major exhibition of music, photographs, film and artifacts documenting the singer's life and musical legacy.^[125]

Discography[link]

References[link]