here is that my Dad had been drinking too and he decided to go straighten everything out at the hotel. He gets over there and Ted starts scream- ing at him and says he knew he should never have brought Aretha down here, called him names, and it gets worse, and Ted and Aretha leave town. Wexler left town the next day. From there Wexler stopped working with
my Dad. That is when he funded Muscle Shoals Sound, with Jimmy, Roger, David and Barry. That's how that all went down and there was some bad blood there for awhile.
Rick Hall.
ahead andcpress it up and put it out. He did, and the rest is history. Wexler came to Muscle Shoals right after that. He and my Dad started working together and did Wilson Pickett. Aretha Franklin came and did her first couple of sides. Wexler brought Pickett down and he signed Clarence Carter, who my dad was already working with. He didn't sign him to Atlantic. but started distribut- ing Clarence's Fame records on Atlantic and doing a lot of work with him. Then Aretha [Franklin] had been on Co-
lumbia for about four years and they had been doing pop records with her and had not had much success at all. Aretha came to Muscle Shoals and everyone knew she had talent, but she had not had a hit yet. She had radio songs, but was not selling lots of records, just a few top 20 records. She came down and her husband at that time was named Ted White. Ted was black, and wanted black musicians, and in Muscle Shoals a lot of the musicians were white, so when they get down here I think everyone was white except for maybe one or two horn players. The session started and the first song was "Never Loved A Man," and everyone thought it was a smash and they all started rejoicing and drinking and then they went on to do the next song, "Do Right Woman." When they were cutting "Never Loved A Man" Chips Moman and Dan Penn were up in my Dad's office writing "Do Right Woman." They came down to cut it and about half way through it Aretha's husband said that one of the horn play- ers had made a pass at Aretha. They were all drinking and having a good time by now. So it ends up that they stopped the session and it was a big ordeal and scene and everyone goes back to their motels including Aretha. So the story out
So Aretha's husband pretty much caused the whole thing? Well, for the most part that is how I understand it I am sure my Dad didn't help any, but I think that over the years her husband pretty much got the blame. But they cut the double sided number one record, her first hit record. It was the first double sided number one and it was a very historic ses- sion. The New York Times ranked, "I Never Loved A Man," as one of the top 20 rock and roll songs of all time from the last century.
Do you have a brother? I have two brothers.
Do you all work here at the studio? No, I work here. Mark and I have an office in Nashville, and he works up there. Mark is my middle brother and he and I own the publishing company and lease Studio B from my Dad. Up until last year we had worked for him, and then we bought him out of the publishing company last year. My oldest brother is an attorney and not in the business.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91
