FAME Studios
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios are located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as The Shoals. Though small and out of the way of the main recording locations of the American music industry, FAME has produced a large number of hit records and was instrumental in what came to be known as the "Muscle Shoals sound". Started in the 1950s by Rick Hall, the studio is still actively recording, and was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997.
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History
Early history
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".
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."
As the word about Muscle Shoals began to spread other acts began coming to the location 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 recording session with Aretha Franklin also brought conflict: one of the horn players was fresh with the singer, and her husband had him fired from the session. Later that evening Hall went over to make up with Franklin and her husband but a fight ensued, and the recording session was canceled. Wexler swore to Hall he would never work with him again.
The session musicians who worked at the studio became known as the "Muscle Shoals Horns" and the "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" (or, "The Swampers"). In 1969, just after Hall had signed a deal with Capitol Records, the Swampers 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.
Duane Allman, later of Allman Brothers Band fame, once pitched a tent and camped out in the parking lot of FAME studios in an effort to be near the recording sessions occurring there. He soon befriended the studio's owner, Rick Hall, and Wilson Pickett (who was recording at FAME at the time). During a lunch break, Allman taught Pickett The Beatles' song "Hey Jude". Duane and Wilson's version of the song was eventually recorded with Allman on lead guitar. On hearing the session, people at Pickett's label (Atlantic Records) asked who had played the guitar solos. Hall responded with a hand-written note that read "some hippie cat who's been living in our parking lot." Shortly afterward, Allman was offered a recording contract. Auditions for the Allman Brothers Band were later held at FAME Studios. Duane Allman loved the area, and frequently returned to The Shoals for session work throughout his life.
Later history
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 included "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" by the Elvin Bishop Group. 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 with 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".
In addition to FAME studios, Hall operates FAME Records, whose original roster included Clarence Carter, Candi Staton, Jimmy Hughes, Willie Hightower and The Fame Gang. The original run of the label was between 1964 and 1974 (with distribution handled by Vee-Jay [1964-1966], Atco [1966-1967], Capitol[1969-1972] and United Artists Records [1972-early 1974]).
Recent history
In 2007, Bettye LaVette's Grammy-nominated CD The Scene of the Crime was recorded at FAME Recording Studios, produced by Patterson Hood and Drive-By Truckers. The Truckers also backed Lavette on the record, with contributions from David Hood and Spooner Oldham.
Fame Sessions, the second album for The Nightowls, was recorded at FAME Studios in September, 2015; in collaboration with David Hood and Spooner Oldham from the original Fame Studios house band The Swampers. The Nightowls, an Austin, Texas based R&B and soul music band, will be performing at the SXSW Music Festival in 2016, for the second consecutive year as a Showcase Artist.
Bibliography
- Richard Younger: Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues: The Arthur Alexander Story, The University of Alabama Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8173-1023-1.
