Local music legend Rick Hall dies
Music has the power to bring people together, and that is certainly what is happening now after the passing of legendary music producer Rick Hall. The music industry, fans and even Gov. Kay Ivey have stepped forward and expressed their condolences and shared stories of the music icon, who passed away Jan. 2 at 85 years old.
“We are all sad about Rick’s passing. I guess we thought he would live forever,” said Dixie Griffin, director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Hall was born in Tishomingo, Miss., but grew up in the Freedom Hills area of Franklin County. According to his biography, “The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame,” his father Herman Hall was from Franklin County and worked as a saw miller in Freedom Hills. His mother Dolly was from Mississippi.
Their first house was a simple shack that his father built when Rick was 6 years old. In his biography, he describes the landscape and what it was like to live in Freedom Hills as well as how they would travel to Russellville, Red Bay and Cherokee to do their shopping.
Fellow music producer Alan Cartee of Phil Campbell said he and his brothers grew up looking up to Hall as a role model and said he was one of the main reasons they got involved in the music industry.
“He was like a father and a brother to us. We all wanted to be like him,” Cartee said.
When they were children, Cartee and his brothers and friends would drive and sit outside of the places Hall was performing because they weren’t old enough to go inside. According to Cartee, Hall and his band would come outside and talk to them on their breaks. Years later, Hall gave Cartee and his brothers their first jobs in the music industry.
“He had the biggest heart in the world. He always gave people a chance,” Cartee said.
The fond memories and kind words about Hall are shared by many across this region.
“I met him a few years ago, and he was so down-to-earth. He was an amazing man,” said Chris Ozbirn, director of the Franklin County Archives.
Hall might have come from humble beginnings, but his talent launched him into music notoriety. As a producer, publisher, songwriter, musician and studio owner, he became known as “The Father of Muscle Shoals Music.”
Hall, fellow musician Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford founded FAME Recording Studios in 1959, which was first located in Florence before moving to Muscle Shoals. He went on to record a wide range of musicians, like Aretha Franklin, the Osmonds, Paul Anka and Shenandoah.
“He was a pioneer in the music business and put Muscle Shoals on the map. To this day we are receiving great benefits from what Rick Hall did,” Griffin said.
Hall was nominated for a Grammy in 1970 for “Producer of the Year” and was named “World’s Producer of the Year” by Billboard Magazine in 1971.
Hall’s funeral was Friday. He is survived by his loving wife, Linda Hall; sons, G. Rick Hall of Fame Ranch in Colbert County and wife Cindy, Mark Hall of Nashville, Tenn., and his Jessica and Rodney Hall of Muscle Shoals, as well as five grandchildren and three siblings, according to his obituary.
