FAME Studios

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FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios were an integral part of American popular music in the late 60s and 70s. Artists who recorded there included Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and many others.

FAME Recording Studios, the first successful professional recording studio in Alabama, was established in 1959. World renowned for creating "Southern Rock", Southern Soul and "Country Soul," an almagamation known as "the Muscle Shoals Sound",FAME has worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Tom Jones to ZZ Hill to the Drive-By Truckers. In the last 40-plus years, FAME has been involved in recording or publishing records that have sold over 300 million copies world wide.

Famous as the place where just about everybody important in recorded soul came to generate hits, including Joe Tex, etc, Fame was started by Rick Hall who originally started out in the music business peddling songs to Nashville. Fame was originally a publishing company (set up with Tom Stafford and Billy Sherrill) housed above an old city drug store in Florence, Alabama. Known as "Florence Alabama Music Enterprises", Hall took the name(shortened to FAME) with him when the partnership broke up.

Hall is credited with starting the 'Muscle Shoals Sound' and it all really began in 1961 with the success of local man Arthur Alexander's release 'You Better Move On'. The success of the release freed up the monies required for Hall to create his own studios on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals - it's still there, comprising two studios, three publishing companies and a production company.

'Steal Away' by Jimmy Hughes was the first record out of the new studios. Hall's path also quickly coincided with Jerry Wexler's and Atlantic Records as Wexler brought his own artists to the Fame studios to capture the unique sound - what resulted was some of the finest recordings in southern soul, including Aretha Franklin's 'Never Loved A Man' and 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'. This early success was followed by hits from James and Bobby Purify, Joe Tex, Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett and countless others; Hall even recommended Percy Sledge to Atlantic, which helped pave the way for the fruitful relationship with Wexler that resulted in the many million sellers for Atlantic at Fame Studios.

During the 1960's, Hall had his own Fame record label, originally distributed by Vee Jay (when Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away" hit in 1964), then a short time of independence until signing up with Atlantic. He then moved the label to a deal with Capitol and finally United Artists. Fame artists included Jimmy Hughes, June Conquest, Dan Penn, Clarence Carter, Bettye Swan, and Candi Staton. Not many actual hits, but a quite a high percentage of great music.

Hall made sure he had a series of classic house bands, many of whom he helped school in the studio techniques which were new to performers more accustomed to live performances. From 64 to 69 he had one of the most respected and sought after sounds, including from 67 the most respected of all, with Barry Beckett, David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Jimmy Johnson. FAME was also the home of session guitarist Duane Allman, just before he formed the Allman Brothers Band.

When the rhythm section left to set up their own studio, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, in 1969, Fame continued to have hits but could never hope to capture the spirit of this golden period. In 1974 Hall closed the Fame label for good but has continued to successfully produce and record - he has increasingly concentrated on the country music with which he began, recording artists such as Mac Davis, Jerry Reed and Larry Gatlin.