Biography
Charlie Chalmers began playing music in his high school marching band.
By age 19, he had toured with Jerry Lee Lewis and worked extensively with Charlie Rich.
Chalmers came to the attention of Bill Black, who called Chalmers for a session. Not long after working with Black, Willie Mitchell asked Chalmers to play on some of his recordings. Chalmers played lead sax on Mitchell's instrumental, "Soul Serenade". Mitchell then called Chalmers to work regularly on his productions, not only as a saxophone player, but also as an arranger and back up singer. Chalmers helped arrange and sang backup on "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green with a group that came to be called Rhodes, Chalmers, & Rhodes. They also sang on Green's album, I Can't Stop , produced by Mitchell, for Blue Note Records, (2003).
Before recording with Al Green, Chalmers was asked to go to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to play on a Wilson Pickett recording date for Atlantic Records. "Land of a Thousand Dances" and "Mustang Sally" were two of the songs he recorded with Pickett that week, and it was then that Chalmers met Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd. Chalmers arranged the horns and played sax on many Aretha Franklin songs, including "I Ain't Never Loved A Man", "Respect", "Do Right Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Dr. Feel Good", and "Natural Woman".
Rick Hall, of Fame Recording, also greatly influenced Chalmers' career producing for Chess Records, Chalmers' Sax and the Single Girl.
After Chalmers sang on Paul Anka's hit "(You're) Having My Baby", he performed live dates with Anka in Las Vegas for three years at Caesar's Palace. Chalmers located a studio in Las Vegas, where he sang back up on a Frank Sinatra session.
After working for several years in Vegas, Charlie and his group were called to Miami to do some sessions at Criteria Studios. For the next few years, they recorded with artists including Andy Gibb, The Bee Gees, Fire Fall, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp and K. C. and the Sunshine Band.
In 1989, Mel Tillis asked Chalmers to work with him at his new theatre in Branson, Missouri. After two years, Chalmers built a recording studio in Branson.
Charlie Chalmers now resides in Branson, Missouri, where he produces in his studio, "Branson Recording & Music Productions". He recorded a new saxophone album called Horn of History.
Chalmers is married to Josie and in 2008 they had a son.
David Frank Paich is an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. Paich wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the band's three most popular songs: "Hold the Line", "Rosanna" and "Africa". With Toto, Paich has contributed to 17 albums and sold over 40 million records. He and guitarist and singer Steve Lukather are the only members to appear on every studio album.
David Hood is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Cissy Houston.
"Mustang Sally" is a rhythm and blues (R&B) song written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965. It was released on the Blue Rock label (4014) in May 1965 with "Sir Mack Rice" as the artist. The song uses an AAB layout with a 24-bar structure.
Jimmy Ray Johnson was an American session guitarist and record producer.
Eddie Hinton was an American songwriter and session musician, best known for his work with soul music and R&B singers. He played lead guitar for Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section from 1969 to 1971 and after leaving the band, he was replaced by Pete Carr as lead guitarist.
"I'm in Love" is a song written by Bobby Womack. It was first recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1967, which gave him a top-ten R&B hit on Billboard's chart in 1968, peaking at number 4 as well as peaking at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"I Never Loved a Man " is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin. Released on Atlantic Records, as the first big hit of her career, it became a defining song for Franklin, peaking at number one on the rhythm and blues charts and number nine on the pop charts. The B-side was "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". Before this Franklin had placed only two Top 40 singles on the pop chart during her modest tenure with Columbia Records.
Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman", Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally", and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man ". As a songwriter, Oldham teamed with Dan Penn to write such hits as "Cry Like a Baby", "I'm Your Puppet", and "A Woman Left Lonely" and "It Tears Me Up".
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section is a group of American session musicians based in the northern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. One of the most prominent American studio house bands from the 1960s to the 1980s, these musicians, individually or as a group, have been associated with more than 500 recordings, including 75 gold and platinum hits. They were masters at creating a southern combination of R&B, soul and country music known as the "Muscle Shoals sound" to back up black artists, who were often in disbelief to learn that the studio musicians were white. Over the years from 1962 to 1969, there have been two successive groups under the name "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" and the common factor in the two was an association with Rick Hall at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.
Boz Scaggs is the second studio album by American musician Boz Scaggs, released in 1969 by Atlantic Records. A stylistically diverse album, Boz Scaggs incorporates several genres, including Americana, blue-eyed soul, country, and rhythm and blues. The lyrics are about typical themes found in blues songs, such as love, regret, guilt, and loss. Scaggs recorded the album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with producer Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section heavily contributed to the album, which included a young Duane Allman, before his rise to fame with the Allman Brothers Band.
Roger G. Hawkins was an American drummer best known for playing as part of the studio backing band known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section of Alabama.
FAME Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the American music industry, FAME has produced many hit records and was instrumental in what came to be known as the Muscle Shoals sound. It was started in the 1950s by Rick Hall, known as the Founder of Muscle Shoals Music. The studio, owned by Hall until his death in 2018, is still actively operating. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The 2013 award-winning documentary Muscle Shoals features Rick Hall, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and the Muscle Shoals sound originally popularized by FAME.
Barry Edward Beckett was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which performed with numerous notable artists on their studio albums and helped define the "Muscle Shoals sound".
Thomas Clark Cogbill was an American bassist, guitarist and record producer known for his work in R&B, soul and country music.
Gene "Bowlegs" Miller was an American trumpeter and band leader.
"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" is a song written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, and made famous by Aretha Franklin. Her version was released on February 10, 1967. Rolling Stone listed it as number 476 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell is an America record producer, musician, songwriter, audio engineer, and owner of Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. He is best known for his work with Al Green, Solomon Burke, Anthony Hamilton, Rod Stewart, John Mayer, 8 Ball, Lamont Dozier, William Bell and Cody Chesnutt.
Floyd Newman is a saxophonist, session musician and bandleader. As a baritone sax player, he was long associated with Stax Records, and as a member of The Mar-Keys’ horn section and the Memphis Horns.
The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967–1970 is a compilation album of singer Aretha Franklin, released by Rhino Records in September 2018. The album contains her first 17 singles for Atlantic Records released in the United States from her debut for the label "I Never Loved a Man " of February 1967 through "Border Song " of October 1970. The Amazon sales website identifies these as digitally remastered versions of the original mono issues, although that is not indicated in the set's liner notes or packaging. The original recordings were produced by Jerry Wexler, at times in collaboration with Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin.
