FAME studios

FAME Recording Studios, 2010

FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is an American recording studio in Muscle Shoals , Alabama . It was founded in 1959 and is still active today. Numerous hits in the areas of blues , soul , rock , pop and country were produced here. The term "Muscle Shoals Sound" describes the music created here.

history

FAME Studios was founded in 1959 by Rick Hall , Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford in Florence, Alabama . In the early 1960s, Hall separated from its partners and moved the company to a former tobacco shop in Muscle Shoals. It was here that the studios' first hit, You Better Move On by Arthur Alexander , came into being in 1961 . With the proceeds, Hall was able to build the building that still exists today on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. The first hit in the new building in 1963 Steal Away by Jimmy Hughes .

Well-known musicians soon came to record at FAME Studios, including Tommy Roe , The Tams , Etta James , Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin . While Duane Allman played as a studio musician for FAME Studios, the Allman Brothers Band was formed .

The session musicians of the FAME Studios became known under the names "Muscle Shoals Horns" and "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" (the latter also known as "The Swampers", German roughly "those from the swamps"). In 1969, the Swampers left FAME Studios and founded a competing company, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio .

After some success with pop musicians like The Osmonds in the early 1970s, Hall now moved towards country music . With artists like Bobbie Gentry , Mac Davis , Jerry Reed and Larry Gatlin , he achieved great success here too. In the second half of the 1980s, Hall led the local group Shenandoah to national success.

In 2013, the film Muscle Shoals came out, which traces the story of Rick Hall and FAME Studios.

documentary

• Greg 'Freddy' Camalier: Muscle Shoals , BBC / UK 2013. With Rick Hall, Keith Richards , Aretha Franklin , Jerry Wexler , Alicia Keys , Jimmy Cliff and others. a.

Web links

Commons : FAME Studios  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official homepage of FAME Studios (English)
• FAME Studios in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound on the National Public Radio website
• FAME Studios on the website of the Encyclopedia of Alabama (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} FAME Studios on the pages of the Encyclopedia of Alabama (English)
2. ↑ Muscle Shoals (film) on IMDb (English)
3. ↑ Muscle Shoals (2013) .