In 1961 Fame Recording Studio opened for business in a tobacco warehouse on Wilson Dam Road in Muscle Shoals. Rick Hall, the owner and former partner in the Spar Music Company in Florence, Alabama, was now on his own and ready to record hit records. Hall recorded the first hit that year with a self written song "You Better Move On" by Arthur Alexander. The song was a national hit and landed Arthur an appearance on the "American Bandstand" TV show. With the profits that Hall made from the sale of over 700,000 copies of "You Better Move On" he built a studio on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals (see below).
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| Above you can see what the FAME building looked like in the 70's. |
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| Today (Oct. 2006) FAME is still recording hit records. It is still located at the same place and Rick Hall still owns and runs the studio. When you consider the number of recording artists that have performed in those walls it will blow you mind. At the time of the written of this article a group named Heartland from Huntsville, Alabama has charted #3 on the country charts with a song named "I Loved Her First" that was recorded in those walls. The song was co-written and produced by Walt Aldridge who lived in Muscle Shoals up until 2 years ago when eh moved to Nashville, TN. |
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