alabama music hall of fame – Shoals Insider

ALABAMA MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTS FOUR

Staff — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:37:53 +0000

From top left to bottom right, Mervyn Warren, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Elton B. Stephens and Gary Baker. (courtesy: AMHOF)

TUSCUMBIA – The Alabama Music Hall of Fame inducted four new members Saturday night, with Gary Baker, Mervyn Warren, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and Elton B. Stephens joining the hall.
“We are excited about this slate of inductees because it demonstrates the diversity of the musical genres represented by Alabama’s music achievers,” AMHOF Board chairwoman Sara Hamlin said.

The hall also honored radio icon and Shoals resident, the late Mitch Self, with the first Alabama Music Hall of Fame Advocacy Award.
Sheffield resident Gary Baker won a Grammy Award for the smash hit “I Swear,” which he co-wrote with Frank J. Myers, according to the bio provided by the AMHOF. The 1994 song was No. 1 on the country charts and Top 5 in pop charts.
Baker also wrote “Once Upon a Lifetime,” which the group ‘Alabama’ performed. It became a No. 1 country hit in 1992.
“Through the years he has penned hit songs for numerous other artists including the Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees and Reba McIntire,” his bio states. “His songs have been featured in numerous high-profile television show and movie soundtracks. He has produced many records, including the Backstreet Boys’ greatest hits album. He launched his career in Muscle Shoals with the famed LeBlanc Carr Band, performing on their top 10 hit named ‘Falling.’ He wrote and recorded with several artists ranging from Mac Davis to Marie Osmond before becoming a member of the ‘Shooters,’ a hit country act from Muscle Shoals.”
A Barbour County native, the late Elton B. Stephens helped establish the rebirth of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, his bio from the AMHOF states.
“In 1995, he was approached by board members and asked to help re-establish the bankrupt ASO,” it states. “Driven by his love of a challenge and his passion for classical music, Stephens and his wife, Alys, stepped up to help the orchestra. In January of 1995, he initiated a $15 million campaign to restore the ASO to the stages and schools of the Greater Birmingham Area. Two years later, the orchestra performed its first concert in the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. Stephens’ leadership encouraged other generous donors in the community to assist ASO.”
The daughter of a Baptist preacher, Montgomery native Willie Mae Thornton’s style was influenced by gospel music, according to an AMHOF biography. Rhythm-and-blues singers Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie also were major inspirations.
“She wrote several blues songs, including ‘Ball ‘n Chain,’ which is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the ‘500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll,’” the bio states. “She was the first person to record Leiber and Stoller’s ‘Hound Dog,’ which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies.
“Scholars have praised Thornton for subverting the traditional roles of African-American women. She added a gutsy female voice to a field that was dominated by white males and her strong personality derailed stereotypes. Elvis and Janis Joplin were big fans of her work and incorporated aspects of her performances into their own work.”
She died in 1984 but in 2004, the nonprofit Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls was established in New York. The camp provides music education to girls ages 8-18.
Marvyn Waren is a five-time Grammy winner and 10-time Grammy nominee, according to a biography from the hall, which calls him “a highly accomplished film and TV composer, record producer, arranger, songwriter/lyricist, pianist and vocalist.”
His production credits include pop, R&B, jazz and country and include work with Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Barbara Streisand, Rascal Flatts, Chicago, Queen Latifah, Al Jarreau and Faith Hill and many more, according to the bio.
“He has composed scores for several feature films including ‘The Wedding Planner,’ ‘A Walk To Remember’ and ‘The Preacher’s Wife,’” the bio states. “He has written arrangements for Quincy Joes, David Foster, the late Arif Mardin and many others. He was a founding member of Take 6, the acapella sextet that originated in Huntsville and took the world by storm in 1988. The band won four Grammy Awards, six Dover Awards, two Stellar Awards and the Soul Train Award. He left the group in 1991 to pursue a career as a producer, songwriter, arranger and film composer.”

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ALABAMA MUSIC HALL OF FAME TO HONOR LEGENDARY BROADCASTER MITCH SELF

Staff — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 17:10:31 +0000

MITCH SELF

TUSCUMBIA – Looking back, Kevin Self laughs when recalling something that he had thought was just a normal part of a boy’s life.

Son of radio icon Mitch Self, Kevin Self said being around big names in the music industry was as routine for his siblings and him as playing a game of backyard football.

“It was really no big deal to us,” said Self, whose father died in 1990. “We didn’t know any better. We had a big backyard, so when Rick Hall brought the Osmond Brothers here and they were just a bunch of boys like us, and they wanted to play, guess where they played?”
Mitchell Self’s career and impact were and continue to be important, and that fact is not lost on officials with the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, the first Alabama Music Hall of Fame Advocacy Award will go to Mitch Self.
Kevin Self will accept it on behalf of his father and family, and admits it will be difficult to find words that will be adequate enough to express their immense gratitude.
“It’s hard to accept an award like that and find the right thing to say,” he said. “It’s an honor as a family to see even 30 years after his death that he is recognized for being an important part in that music era – that music era that held a lot of magic in this town.”
At only age 15, Mitch Self attended the Radio Operational Engineering School in Burbank, California. At 16, he took a job at WJBB in Haleyville. A year later, he became an announcer at WAJF in Decatur, where he remained until 1955.
He moved to Oxford, Mississippi, to become program director for WSUH for its on-air debut on May 1, 1955. Four years later, he and two partners bought the Dyersburg, Tennessee, station WTRO.
In 1961, he returned home, trading his interest in the Dyersburg station for an interest in WLAY in Muscle Shoals, where he also served as sales manager and morning personality on the air.
Self’s ventures continued in 1970 when he and a pair of partners bought WMSL in Decatur. He traded interest in WMSL a year later for a larger interest in WLAY.
There, he served as president and general manager of WLAY’s AM and FM stations from 1971 until his death on Jan. 8, 1990.
Self had a major influence in the broadcast industry, serving as president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association in 1982 and member of the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters representing Alabama and Georgia in 1986. He was re-elected to that position in 1988.
He was very community-oriented, as well, serving in such positions as Board of Directors at First National Bank of Tuscumbia and Board of Directors at Colonial Bank and was founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of First Metro Bank in Muscle Shoals.
Self also served as Chairman of Deacons at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals and raised Santa Gertrudis cattle in Colbert County.
Throughout his career, Self’s relationship with local recording studio owners blossomed. He often played a key role in introducing the public to locally produced music.
Legendary FAME founder Rick Hall was among them, and the Self family became entwined in that. Kevin Self recalls being at WLAY in the mid- to late 1970s, when he would play records that ultimately would become hits. This was during a time when producers brought records to stations so they would get airplay.
“As far as helping the local studiOs getting the music out there, radio was extremely important back then to music,” he said. “It was how music got out to the public.”
He said it was a magical time for the Shoals music industry and his father was in the midst of it.
“Any of the stuff Rick Hall was producing, he would bring here,” Self said. “Rick Hall would be in his car, judging from the A mix to the B mix and maybe back to the A mix, to see which would sound best on the radio.”
The impact of those sessions and radio airings was immense then and continues to leave a lasting legacy in music.
“People were working hard at their craft, not necessarily thinking ‘we’re making history here’ but they were,” Self said. “That was a fun thing to do but it turned out to be important.”

Author Ronald Rand will be at Hall of Fame for book signing

Staff — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 06:44:29 +0000

Ron Rand

TUSCUMBIA– On September 12th, Tuesday evening, from 5 to 7pm, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame will host a special Book Event & Signing for Ronald Rand’s new book, “CREATE!” and A Benefit for the Alabama Music Hall of Fame locat-ed at 617 on Highway 72 West in Tuscumbia, Alabama with special music guests in-cluding Jim Seales, Mitchell Curtis, Michael Curtis and Donny Carpenter of Three Wheel Drive, Travis Wammack, Jake Landers, Kerry Gilbert, Alyssa Ashley and Hugh Banks of The KGB Band, Will McFarlane, and Eddie Martin, Tony Lee and Malcolm Singleton of the Wildwood Ruminators.
The Special Book Event kicks off with music from 5 to 6pm, followed by an exciting Panel Discussion on Creativity 6-7pm with many of the music artists including author of CREATE! Ronald Rand, Tonya S. Holly, Jerry Masters, world-renowned portrait artist Martha Carpenter and one of America’s finest landscape painters, Tim Stevenson. Ms. Carpenter and Mr. Stevenson will be exhibiting some of their large paintings related to music, plus iconic photographs displayed by acclaimed Atlanta-based photographer, Parish Kohanim, and needlepoint by Muscle Shoals native, Jan Masters. Admission is free and contributions will be accepted to benefit the Alabama Hall of Fame. Seating is first come, first serve. For more info call: (256) 381-4417. Visit CreatetheBook.com & Alamhof.org

Ronald Rand’s new book, “CREATE!” features over 100 rare interviews including local artists Jim Seales, Travis Wammack, Martha Carpenter & Tim Stevenson plus Carol Burnett, Chaka Khan, Ben Vereen, Ellen Burstyn, Phylicia Rashad, Kelsey Grammer, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Christopher Plummer, Patch Adams, Chita Rivera, Carol Channing, Dick Cavett, Bill T. Jones, Tony Randall sharing their insights on creating art.
Ronald Rand’s new book, “CREATE!” Includes over 150 full-color paintings, photo-graphs and artwork including Al Hirschfeld, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Carolyn D Palm-
er, Martha Carpenter,Tim Stevenson, Tommy Tune, Sire Derek Walcott, Michael Shane
Neal, Stephen Lang, and Robert Wilson.
Andre Bishop, Producing Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theatre in New York City
has said: “An enriching book for everyone, “CREATE!” captures the passion of creativity
in the theater, music, dance, in fact, all the arts. An invaluable guide to the inner workings
of the artist’s vision.”
CREATE! also includes such greats as Edward Albee, F. Murray Abraham, Ruby Dee &
Ossie Davis, Elie Wiesel, Tony Randall & Jack Klugman, Katherine Dunham, Lucie
Arnaz, Elizabeth Ashley, Olympia Dukakis, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Horton Foote,
Sheldon Harnick – lyricist of “Fiddler on the Roof,” Jerry Orbach, Sylvia Sidney, Marvin
Hamlisch, Charles Strouse – composer of “Annie,” Spalding Gray, and Eugenia Zukerman
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, located in Tuscumbia, is located not too far from the
banks of the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama, opened its doors in 1987. Showcasing
a multitude of heralded musicians from the state of Alabama who have had a
significant impact through their performing, song-writing, management, and publishing,
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame honors its “achievers,” through informative exhibitions,
a bronze star on their Walk of Fame, and their inclusion in the Hall of Fame roster.
Among the Hall of Fame’s 12,500 square foot exhibit halls you’ll find displays honoring
many stars from Alabama including Hank Williams, Lionel Richie Nat King Cole, Shenandoah,
Travis Wammack, Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris, the group Alabama, W.C.
Handy, among many other important Alabama-born artists.
Ronald Rand, author of CREATE! is an International Goodwill Cultural Ambassador,
performing in his 16th year around the world in his celebrated solo play, LET IT BE
ART! as Harold Clurman, appearing at theaters, international festivals and universities
in 23 countries and 20 states. Best-selling author of “Acting Teachers of America,” Rand
is the Founder and Publisher of “The Soul of the American Actor” Newspaper in its 19th
year, and an international renowned director. His award-winning production of LUV continues
into its 4th sold-out year at Sarajevo’s Chamber Theatre 55. Librettist of a new
opera, IBSEN, about the famous playwright, Henrik Ibsen, Rand has been a visiting
guest professor at over seventy-five universities around the world, including recently
performing and teaching at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. He recently played Captain
Keller in a new solo presentation in “The Tuscumbia I Know” as part of The Helen
Keller Festival. Visit: CreatetheBook.com, LetItBert.com, SoulAmericanActor.com
“CREATE!” can be found at Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com — softcover Edition
$42 — Special Hardcover Edition $72 — Kindle $19.99

American Idol Team has arrived in the Shoals Area

Staff — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 06:30:11 +0000

TUSCUMBIA–You can feel the excitement in the air as the American Idol Bus has arrived in the Shoals area to begin auditions for contestants to be on the international hit music show.

Tuscumbia city officials tell the Shoals Insider they are expecting a big turnout for the event.

Producers say there will be no camping overnight or sleeping at the audition site the night before to get a better place in line.

The line will start to form at 6:00 a.m. and auditions will start at 9:00 a.m. and end around 5:00 p.m.

If you are unable to make the audition, you can submit your video audition online by clicking here.

You can do both an online video audition and an in person audition at the Hall of Fame.

The show is returning to ABC in 2018 and will be hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

The groundbreaking series launched the careers of superstars Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Jordin Sparks, Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry among many others.

American Idol alumni are responsible for 13 Grammys, over 61 million album sales, 47 Platinum records, 95 Gold records, 444 Billboard No. 1 hits, 257 million digital downloads, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award.

Jeff Roland

Shoals Insider – Keeping You Informed