Fame Album Discography
By Dave Edwards, Patrice Eyries, and Mike Callahan
Last update: October 15, 2006





Fame Recording Studios was founded in 1959 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The founder and boss was Rick Hall, who came up with FAME as an acronym for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises. Over the years, they have had a number of "rhythm sections," that is, studio musicians who have given it the "Muscle Shoals Sound" famous within the industry. The Fame Studios still exist and are still recording these days. Their website is www.fame2.com.

The first rhythm section was made up of some local musicians, members of the group Dan Penn and the Pallbearers, who recorded in a warehouse on Wilson Dam Road. The songs they cut with Arthur Alexander, including "You Better Move On" [Dot 16309], allowed Fame to build a new studio at 603 E. Avalon Avenue, where the studios remain today.

The next "rhythm section" was David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, Earl Montgomery, Terry Thompson, and Jerry Carrigan. They played on hits by Tommy Roe, the Tams, and Joe Tex, and later went on to various careers in the music business as writers, producers, and performers.

The next "rhythm section," David Hood, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, Junior Lowe, and Barry Beckett, were perhaps the most famous, being around during the period when Fame Studios was recording Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Clarence Carter, Candi Staton, and the Purifys. This rhythm section, as a group, established a rival recording studio in 1969 called "Muscle Shoals Sound Studio," which after some years was sold to Malaco Records of Jackson, Mississippi.

After the above group left Fame, a new "rhythm section" was hired. It was during this time that Rick Hall established Fame Records, and it this group of musicians that appears on the first Fame Album, billed as the "Fame Gang." They were Junior Lowe, Harrison Calloway, Jesse Boyce, Aaron Varnell, Ronnie Eades, Mickey Buckins, Harvey Thompson, Clayton Ivey, and Freeman Brown.

Other studio musicians have come and gone over the years, and Fame Records lasted as an entity until the mid-1970s.

The first Fame label was black with silver print. At the top was the Fame logo, which was the word "fame" in lower case type (each letter a different color), surrounded (except for the bottom) with a thin double yellow line. To the left of the center hole, in white print, it said, "Recorded at Fame Recording Studios, 603 E. Avalon Ave., Muscle Shoals, Ala." Bending around the bottom of the label in small white type was, "MFG. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC."






After leaving Capitol's distribution, Fame was distributed by United Artists. The Fame logo changed to a 3-D logo with block letters that got smaller in perspective as they went into the distance. The label had clouds and a red, yellow, and green swirl graphic.


We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with the record label listed on this page. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and Follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2006 by Mike Callahan.



FAME ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY

Cover


Number - Title - Artist - [Release Date] (Chart) Contents

4200 series (Distributed by Capitol):



SKAO 4200 - Solid Gold From Muscle Shoals - Fame Gang [1969] Little Green Apples/Sugar Sugar/Spinning Wheel/What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)/Sweet Caroline/Can I Change My Mind/Your Good Thing/Love Theme From "Romeo & Juliet"//It's Your Thing/Get Back/Suspicious Minds/Wichita Lineman/Too Weak To Fight/The Chokin' Kind/Choice Of Colors/Soulful Strut



ST 4201 - I'm Just A Prisoner - Candi Staton [1970] Someone You Use/I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool)/You Don't Love Me No More/Evidence/Sweet Feeling//Do Your Duty/That's How Strong My Love Is/I'm Just a Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')/Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man/Get It When I Want It

ST 4202 - Stand By Your Man - Candi Staton [1971] (2-71, #188)Stand By Your Man/How Can I Put Out The Flame (When You Keep The Fire Burning)/I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')/Mr. And Mrs. Untrue/Too Hurt To Cry//He Called Me Baby/Sweet Feeling/To Hear You Say You're Mine/What Would Become Of Me/Freedom Is Just Beyond The Door



1800 series (Distributed by UA):

FAS 1800 - Candi Staton - Candi Staton [1972] The Best Thing You Ever Had/Lovin' You Lovin' Me/I'll Drop Everything And Come Running/You Don't Love Me No More/The Thanks I Get For Loving You//Do It In The Name Of Love/Darling You're All That I Had/Blackmail/In The Ghetto/Wanted: Lover

FAS 1801 - Travis Wammack - Travis Wammack [1972] So Good/How Can I Tell Her/Put Your Shoes And Walk/You Better Move On/Funk #49//You Are My Sunshine/Whatever Turns You On/Darling You're All That I Had/Slip Away/I Don't Really Want You

United Artists Consolidated Series (Distributed by UA):

FM-LA 186 F - Sixty Minutes with Clarence Carter - Clarence Carter [1973] I m The Midnight Special/Heartbreak Woman/Sixty Minute Man/I Love You/Loves Trying To Come To You//Next To You/Run Out Of Time/It Was So Nice While It Lasted/And They Say Don t Worry/I Got Another Woman





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