FAME Studios

FAME Studios, short for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises, is a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, founded in 1959 by Rick Hall with Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford [2]. Hall, later called the “Father of Muscle Shoals Music,” turned a small operation above a Florence drug store into one of the most influential studios in American popular music, and described the Muscle Shoals sound as “funky, hard, gutty, down to earth” [1][2]. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 2016, and is still active [1].

Founding

In 1959 Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford opened FAME Recording Studios above City Drug in Florence, a store owned by Stafford’s father [1][3]. The partnership dissolved in 1960: Stafford and Sherrill kept the equipment and songwriters (Sherrill moved to Nashville, and Stafford ran the publishing company Spar Music), while Hall kept the FAME name [1][3]. Hall moved the studio to a former candy and tobacco warehouse in Muscle Shoals with his future father-in-law, Hansel Cross, whom he later bought out [1].

Hall was born January 31, 1932, in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, and raised in the Freedom Hills area of Franklin County, Alabama, during the Depression [3]. He worked in factories in the Midwest, played in a gospel and bluegrass group, and in 1957 met Sherrill, with whom he co-wrote “Sweet and Innocent,” recorded by Roy Orbison [3].

First hits and the Avalon Avenue studio

In 1961–62 Hall recorded Arthur Alexander’s “You Better Move On,” the first major hit from the Muscle Shoals area, which reached No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 [1][2]. Its session players formed FAME’s first rhythm section [1]. The proceeds paid for a purpose-built facility on Avalon Avenue, designed by Nashville producer Owen Bradley, which opened in 1963; Jimmy Hughes’s “Steal Away” was its first hit [1][2]. In 1967 an addition created Studio B and doubled the building’s size [1].

The rhythm sections

The first FAME rhythm section, including Norbert Putnam, David Briggs and Jerry Carrigan, left for Nashville [4]. In 1964 Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood, later known as The Swampers, replaced them [1]. In 1969 those four left to open Muscle Shoals Sound Studio [1][4]. Hall then hired the FAME Gang, a third rhythm section with eight musicians plus arranger-producer Mickey Buckins [2][4].

Soul hits of the 1960s

By the late 1960s Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter and Solomon Burke had recorded at FAME [2]. Pickett’s hits included “Land of a Thousand Dances” and “Mustang Sally,” and his 1968 “Hey Jude” featured Duane Allman on lead guitar [1][2]. Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966) was the first No. 1 hit recorded in the Shoals [3]. Aretha Franklin recorded at FAME once, in early 1967, cutting “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” [2]. Etta James recorded “Tell Mama” in 1967 [2]. Hall signed Candi Staton in 1968 [3].

Pop and country success

In 1970 the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple” spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and Clarence Carter’s “Patches” reached No. 4 [1][3]. Billboard named Hall its Producer of the Year in 1971 [1][3]. Mac Davis’s “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” topped the pop and country charts in 1972 [2]. In 1982 Jerry Reed had two No. 1 records, “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)” and “The Bird” [2]. Shenandoah had six No. 1 country singles between 1989 and 1991, including “The Church on Cumberland Road” [2].

Recognition and today

Hall sold the original publishing company and recording copyrights to EMI Music Publishing in 1989 [1]. The Alabama Historical Commission placed FAME on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997, and the National Register listing followed on November 29, 2016 [2]. The 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals renewed attention, and Hall received the Recording Academy’s Trustee Award in 2014 [1]. He published a memoir, The Man from Muscle Shoals, in 2015 and died of cancer on January 2, 2018 [3].

The studio remains in operation under Hall’s widow Linda Hall, with son Rodney Hall as president [2]. FAME marked its 65th anniversary in 2024 and in early 2025 launched Studio X in Florence, described as Alabama’s first fully immersive Dolby Atmos-capable mixing studio [2]. In 2023 Shenandoah re-recorded “Two Dozen Roses” there with Luke Combs [2].

FAQs

Who founded FAME Studios? Rick Hall, with Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford, in 1959 [1][3].

What does FAME stand for? Florence Alabama Music Enterprises [3].

Is FAME Studios still open? Yes, it operates in Muscle Shoals under the Hall family [2].

Did Aretha Franklin record at FAME? Yes, once, in early 1967 [2].

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: FAME Studios
2. Wikipedia: FAME Studios
3. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Rick Hall
4. Wikipedia: Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue