FAME Studios. FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios are located at 603 West Avalon 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 were 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.[1] History[edit]
Aretha to The Black Keys: The Muscle Shoals Story: Song Writing. Aretha to The Black Keys: The Muscle Shoals Story Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers And they've been known to pick a song or two ~Lynyrd Skynrd, "Sweet Home Alabama" In the Northwest corner of Alabama sits an unlikely musical hotspot, a cluster of towns - Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals - where anonymous musicians backed up the big names: Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger.
The biggest recordings from this area came from two studios: Muscle Shoals Sound Studios (owned and operated by the musicians who played there), and FAME Studios. Both are still open for business, and in 2009 The Black Keys recorded their Brothers album at MSSS. Many of the musicians are still there as well, including some of those "Swampers" Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about. Here is the story of how an exceptional group of musicians turned a tiny town into a musical destination and created a sound that artists are still seeking. Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions (1967-68) 50 Years of FAME and the Muscle Shoals Sound. 1970 Fame Studios Documentary. Arthur Alexander - If It's Really Got To Be This Way. Don Covay - I Was Checking Out...And She Was Checking In. Candi Staton - I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool) Etta James - Security.
Joe Tex - Hold On To What You've Got. Mavis Staples - I Have Learned To Do Without You. The Soul Children - I'll Be The Other Woman. William Bell - My Whole World Is Falling Down. 1450 AM & 92.3 FM - The Sound. The Birth Place of R&B (Documentary) The making of a #1 Hit at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio w/ The Swampers, Mary McGregor Part II. Muscle Shoals (Official Movie Site) - Directed by Greg 'Freddy' Camalier - Available on DVD and Blu-ray™ 'Muscle Shoals': Land of 1,000 Hit Records. Deep Soul - How Muscle Shoals became music's most unlikely hit factory. In January 1967 a young singer named Aretha Franklin arrived in the small Alabama town of Muscle Shoals, her career hanging in the balance.
At the age of 25 Franklin was already a music veteran. She had recorded nine albums, none of which had properly captured the fiery, transcendent intensity of her voice or the rapt, prayerful beauty of her piano playing. But over the course of just a few hours, in a studio where she had never worked before, with musicians whom she had met for the first time that day, Franklin would record not only the most important song in her career but one of the greatest songs in the history of pop music, I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You).
What made this record all the more remarkable was that the backing musicians who provided the brooding, soulful and unmistakably black sound were in fact white – country boys who had grown up in the 1950s and 1960s in what at that time was the most racially troubled state in America. ‘That’s not true, honey.’ Abrasive? Made at Muscle Shoals. Our History. FAME Publishing was founded in 1959 by Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford.
FAME writers Billy Sherrill, Dan Penn and Rick Hall have cuts on Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee and Tommy Roe. Rick Hall took over as sole owner of FAME. Late 1961 Rick Hall produced Muscle Shoals’ first hit record on Arthur Alexander. The song, “You Better Move On”, was later covered by the Rolling Stones. FAME’s first house rhythm section included Norbert Putnam, David Briggs, Peanut Montgomery and Jerry Carrigan. FAME moves its studios and offices to the current location on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. The Tams record their huge hit “What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am”. Buddy Killen brings Joe Tex to FAME to record the gold record “Hold On To What You’ve Got”. Rick Hall produces Etta James’ Tell Mama album. FAME helps place the Muscle Shoals classic “When A Man Loves A Woman”. Wilson Pickett comes to FAME to fire off a string of classic recordings. FAME Records inks distribution deal with United Artists. Recording Studios. Make your project shine by recording in one of the top sounding rooms in the world.
Record alongtside award winning engnieers, musicians, songwriters and singers. Recording state of the art digitally or classic Analog. Take your project to the next level and find out why FAME is one of the world's most famous recording rooms. Email or give us a call.. We can work with most any budget.... "We were trying to get that bass sound Arthur Alexander was getting in Muscle Shoals, we love his records. " - John Lennon, The Beatles. The Muscle Shoals Sound - Various Artists.