 |
| |
The sequence of events that brought Rick Hall to prominence in the recording industry could be called accidental. But the continuing success of Muscle Shoals' leading hit-maker comes from his "Never Say Die" attitude. Hall's determination dwells inside the walls of his FAME Studios where he guides a talented staff of writers and musicians. And after more than two decades of hit-making, Hall's business is still growing. His credits include producing and engineering hit records for Aretha Franklin, Bobbie Gentry, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, The Osmonds, Mac Davis, Duane Alllman, Paul Anka, Jerry Reed, Shenandoah and many more.
Hall didn't just step into the music business hoping to be a producer. Long before his first hit record, Hall was helping his father earn a living in rural northwest Alabama by singing and playing fiddle at weekend square dances and playing a daily country radio show in Hamilton, Alabama.
"My roots were country," says Hall. "The first hit, it wasn't my plan. It's just something I conjured up. In the early 1960s the music business was very lucrative. Blacks were the in crowd in music. But being country and playing country music, it was sort of by accident that I got involved in R&B."
Hall was writing and peddling songs to Nashville, hopefully to make some money. Recording stars George Jones, Brenda Lee and Roy Orbison all cut his songs. But Hall was well aware of the influence of such stars as Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Elvis Presley, as he struggled for a break in Nashville. "I was beginning to think a little more progressively. I began digging on the black music," Hall remembers. "I couldn't get anything going in Nashville. It left me not alternative but to try and get something going in Muscle Shoals."
Hall was joined by Tom Stafford and Billy Sherrill, forming a partnership and his first studio and publishing company above the old City Drug Store in downtown Florence. The Trio's business was named "Florence Alabama Music Enterprises." After two years of moderate success the partnership dissolved and Hall went to Muscle Shoals, carrying with him the name of the publishing company, which he shortened to FAME. Sherill moved on to Nashville and later became on of the biggest producers in country music.
Working with limited resources, Hall resurrected his business inside a tobacco warehouse. It was inside that dingy structure that Hall started "the Muscle Shoals sound". He discovered a talented singer and songwriter named Arthur Alexander who was then working as a bellhop. Alexander followed Hall back to the makeshift studio inside the warehouse and recorded the monster hit, "You Better Move On."
With royalties from that first hit, Hall escaped from the limited surroundings of the warehouse and constructed his own studios on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. That very same building today houses two recording studios, three publishing companies and a production company.
Hall quickly followed up on his first hit and produced a top ten single for Jimmy Hughes with "Steal Away", the first record cut in his new studio. Hall, who had been determined to make it in the country music field, was now firmly established as a highly regarded producer of rhythm and blues.
An even greater challenge was facing Hall after producing two hits. He needed reliable musicians to back his productions, but most of the royalties he had earned were spent building the new studio and buying new equipment. "You had to have musicians who could pick. We just had to go out and pick the best we had, which wasn't much," he recalls. "I just had to make a deal with the musicians because I had nothing to offer them. I wasn't making any money. It had to be time and dedication to the movement."
In addition to producing and engineering recording sessions, Hall became a teacher for the unpolished but talented musicians he assembled. Many of these musicians had only played live performances and were unfamiliar with a recording session. "A lot of times I had to put them together in the studio for weeks or months to get what I wanted," Hall says. Once the musicians understood what Hall expected, they had to understand also that hit records meant survival for all of them. "We were more adamant about making hit records," Hall says. "Our lives depended on it, so we tried harder. We had to take the attitude of never say die."
The attitude prevailed and Hall became a leader among independent producers with his studio bands. He was entering one of the most successful periods of his career. The hits are the proof.
Aretha Franklin's dynamic voice turned to gold at FAME as Hall produced two of her best selling hits, "I Never Loved A Man" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." Next to find Hall's brand of gold was James and Bobby Purify with "I'm Your Puppet." Joe Tex followed with the popular hit, "Hold what You've Got." Clarence Carter was not far behind in the goldrush, recording such hits as "Slip Away", Too Weak To Fight" and his biggest seller "Patches" which was Hall's first #1 pop and R&B record. Wilson Pickett joined in the FAME success and became an international star with a powerful voice and Hall's timely production qualities on "Mustang Sally", "Hey Jude" , "Funky Broadway" and "The Land of 1000 Dances." This classic version of " The Land of 1000 Dances" was recently included on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. Another Muscle Shoals song that was recently used in a movie soundtrack was "When A Man Loves A Woman." This song was in the movie Platoon and also the movie entitled When A Man Loves A Woman. Although FAME didn't record or publish this song Hall did help his good friend Quinn Ivy out by placing the song with Atlantic Records. This was actually how Hall got his foot in the door with Jerry Wexler and Atlantic Records. He later went on to produce many million selling records for Atlantic.
Hall was now far from his country roots. The sound coming from FAME was a unique blend of fundamental rhythm and blues and rock and roll, enhanced by a funky backbeat. The president of MGM Records approached Hall as the 1970s began, to produce a teenage group, The Osmonds. Hall accepted the offer and produced two consecutive number one pop singles; "One Bad Apple" which sold over five million singles, and "Yo Yo" for The Osmonds. Two albums, "The Osmonds" and "Homemade", also earned gold status. And in one year Hall's productions on The Osmonds were responsible for the sale of 11 million records. The year's work earned Hall the honor of being selected Billboard's Producer of the Year for the world in 1971.
The Osmond name would continue to be associated with FAME, as Hall produced two gold albums for Donny Osmond- "To You With Love, Donny" and "The Donny Osmond Album'. Hit singles for the young Osmond included "Sweet And Innocent", "Go Away Little Girl", (both #1 pop) and "Hey Girl/I Knew You When".
Bobbie Gentry brought her down-home sound to FAME after The Osmonds' enormous success, and recorded the country-pop smash "Fancy". Paul Anka, searching for his first hit in almost ten years, turned to Hall. Together they recorded the gold album "Anka" which included the immensely popular "You're Having My Baby" which also went to #1 in the pop charts and sold over 3 million records.
Arriving next at FAME was Mac Davis, with whom Hall had produced "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" (#1 pop and country) and "Stop And Smell The Roses". Mac recorded 4 gold albums at FAME. And it was with Davis that Hall was clearly stepping back to his own country roots. Both "Texas In My Rear View Mirror" and "Hooked On Music" hit in both the country and pop circles.
Hall has begun a string of 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 on 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 include "Fooled Around And Fell In Love". Top 10 singles include "In Over My Heart" and "Doncha?". Top 5 singles include "Strong Heart" and "One For The Money"and a #1 single "You're My First Lady".
Then Hall decided to do it the old-fashioned way; the way he did it in the beginning, developing new artists. A local country band who 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 they had top 10 singles with "She Doesn't Cry Anymore" and "See If I Care" , a 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".
Rick is currently in the studio for the first time in 5 years with a new artist named Ron Kimball. Rick said, "Ron is the first artist I've been excited about since Shenandoah". The project should be completed by the end of July.
The FAME Publishing Company and Rick Hall Music has also climbed to the top of the charts in the last fifteen years with "There's No Getting Over Me", which was recorded by Ronnie Milsap and won the writers, Walt Aldridge and Tommy Brassfield ASCAP's country song of the year award and Earl Thomas Conley's "Holding Her And Loving You", voted Song Of The Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Other top hits for the FAME Publishing Companies were "I Can't Win For Losing You" , "That Was A Close One" and "What I'd Say" by Earl Thomas Conley, "How Do I Turn You On" and "All Is Fair In Love And War" by Ronnie Milsap, "I Am A Simple Man" and "Crime Of Passion" by Ricky Van Shelton, "Little Girl" by Reba McEntire, "She's Got A Single Thing In Mind" by Conway Twitty, "Leave Him Out of This" by Steve Wariner, "The Moon Over Georgia" by Shenandoah, "I Sure Can Smell The Rain", by Blackhawk and "I Swear" by John Michael Montgomery and All-4-One. "I Swear" was selected as the CMA single of the year in 1994. It was also selected by American songwriter magazine as the pop song of the year and Rick Hall Music, Inc was selected as pop publisher of the year. "I Swear" also won a grammy for country song of the year. FAME currently has publishing on the Tim McGraw single "I Like It, I Love It" , "The Fear of being Alone", by Reba Mcentire, "Whatever Comes First", by Sons of the Desert. Many of the songs which were recorded over the years by artists at FAME were also published by FAME. A few of those are "I'm Your Puppett", "Slip Away", "Steal Away", "Too Weak to Fight", "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", "Tell Mama", "One Bad Apple", and "You Left The Water Running" which was written by Hall.
| Song Title | Recording Artist | Chart* | Year |
| Too Weak To Fight | Clarence Carter | 3 | 1969 |
| Sweet Feeling | Candi Staton | 5 | 1970 |
| Sweet And Innocent | Donny Osmond | 7 | 1971 |
Back to "H" Music Achiever Listing
| |