Rick Hall, whose FAME studio in Alabama was home some of rock and R&B's greatest session players, died Tuesday morning. He was 85.
Along with founding and running the studio, Hall was a producer, songwriter and music publisher. He worked with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman and Brenda Lee, whose success helped make the small Alabama town a musical destination.
But his fiery temper led to trouble -- Hall got into a brawl with Franklin's husband Ted White, which led to Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun cutting ties with the studio.
The original FAME was in the town of Florence, Alabama; it was later moved to the nearby town of Muscle Shoals. FAME stood for Florence, Alabama Music Enterprises.
Hall worked extensively with country artists from the 1970s on, producing Alabama, Shenandoah, Jerry Reed, Tim McGraw and Mac Davis.
The subject of a 2013 documentary, Hall published his autobiography The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame in 2015. (AL.com)
In a related story this (Wed) morning:
Eddie Hinton, a guitarist who worked at the famed Muscle Shoals Studio, will be posthumously inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on February 3rd. Hinton founded the mid-’60s band Hour Glass, which included Duane and Gregg Allman. As a sessionman, he played on hits by Wilson Pickett, Arthur Conley, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex, Boz Scaggs and Percy Sledge.