Muscle Shoals Producer Rick Hall Passes

Rick Hall

Renown record producer and FAME studio owner/publisher RICK HALL died TUESDAY (1/2) morning at the age of 85, ROLLING STONE reports. Dubbed the "Father of Muscle Shoals Music," HALL had been in declining health in recent months.

HALL's production work, his FAME Studio and FAME publishing company dealt with legendary artists such as ARETHA FRANKLIN, ETTA JAMES, WILSON PICKETT and many more. FAME STUDIO and publishing catalog have generated record sales to the tune of 350 million.

After helping to license the PERCY SLEDGE's "When a Man Loves a Woman" in 1966, HALL co-founded FAME PUBLISHING in 1959 with TOM STAFFORD and producer-songwriter BILLY SHERRILL. The company hit paydirt with tunes by BRENDA LEE, ROY ORBISON and TOMMY ROE. HALL would eventually take sole ownership of FAME (which stood for FLORENCE ALABAMA MUSIC ENTERPRISES). FAME PUBLISHING would produce hit songs for the likes of EARL THOMAS CONLEY, T. GRAHAM BROWN, RICKY VAN SHELTON and ALABAMA. THE DIXIE CHICKS, GEORGE STRAIT, MARTINA MCBRIDE, KENNY CHESNEY and many others scored hits from FAME's catalog.

More recently, GREGG ALLMAN cut his final album, Southern Blood, at FAME studio; DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS and JASON ISBELL also cut albums there. ISBELL wrote in a TWITTER post, "RICK HALL and his family gave me my first job in the music business, and nobody in the industry ever worked harder than RICK. Nobody. American music wouldn’t be the same without his contributions. His death is a huge loss to those of us who knew him and those who didn’t."

HALL was inducted into the ALABAMA MUSIC HALL OF FAME in 1985, received a GRAMMY TRUSTEES AWARD in 2014 for his "significant contribution to the field of recording." In 2015, he published the memoir, "The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame." He is survived by his wife, LINDA, and three sons, RICK JR., MARK and RODNEY.

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