Al Green
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Al Green Biography
Al Green was the first great soul singer of the '70s and
arguably the last great Southern soul singer. With his seductive
singles for Hi Records in the early '70s, Green bridged the gap between
deep soul and smooth Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of
gospel, interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails, but
his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions that rolled
along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals, and lush strings. The
distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie
Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul
singer of the early '70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but
also veterans like Marvin Gaye. Green was at the peak of his popularity
when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-'70s. At
first, he continued to record secular material, but by the '80s, he was
concentrating solely on gospel. During the late '80s and '90s, he
occasionally returned to R&B, but he remained primarily a religious
performer for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, Green's classic
early- '70s recordings retained their power and influence throughout
the decades, setting the standard for smooth soul.
Green was born in Forest City, Arkansas, where he formed a gospel
quartet, the Green Brothers, at the age of nine. The group toured
throughout the South in the mid- '50s, before the family relocated to
Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Green Brothers continued to perform in
Grand Rapids, but Al's father kicked the boy out of the group after he
caught his son listening to Jackie Wilson. At the age of 16, Al formed
an R&B group, Al Green & the Creations, with several of his
high-school friends. Two Creation members, Curtis Rogers and Palmer
James, founded their own independent record company, Hot Line Music
Journal, and had the group record for the label. By that time, the
Creations had been re-named the Soul Mates. The group's first single,
Back Up Train, became a surprise hit, climbing to number five on the
R&B charts early in 1968. The Soul Mates attempted to record
another hit, but all of their subsequent singles failed to find an
audience.
In 1969, Al Green met bandleader and Hi Records vice president Willie
Mitchell while on tour in Midland, Texas. Impressed with Green's voice,
he signed the singer to Hi Records, and began collaborating with Al on
his debut album. Released in early 1970, Green's debut album Green Is
Blues showcased the signature sound he and Mitchell devised -- a
sinewy, sexy groove highlighted by horn punctuations and string beds
that let Green showcase his remarkable falsetto. While the album didn't
spawn any hit singles, it was well-received and set the stage for the
breakthrough success of his second album. Al Green Gets Next to You
(1970) launched his first hit single, Tired of Being Alone, which
began a streak of four straight gold singles. Let's Stay Together
(1972) was his first genuine hit album, climbing to number eight on the
pop charts; its title track became his first number one single. I'm
Still in Love With You, which followed only a few months later, was an
even greater success, peaking at number four and launching the hits
Look What You Done for Me and I'm Still in Love With You.
By the release of 1973's Call Me, Green was known as both a hitmaker
and an artist who released consistently engaging, frequently excellent,
critically-acclaimed albums. His hits continued uninterrupted through
the next two years, with Call Me, Here I Am, and Sha-La-La (Make
Me Happy) all becoming Top Ten gold singles. At the height of his
popularity, Green's former girlfriend, Mrs. Mary Woodson, broke into
his Memphis home in October 1974 and poured boiling grits on the singer
as he was bathing, inflicting second-degree burns on his back, stomach
and arm; after assaulting Green, she killed herself with his gun. Green
interpreted the violent incident as a sign from God that he should
enter the ministry. By 1976, he had bought a church in Memphis and had
become an ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle. Though he had
begun to seriously pursue religion, he had not given up singing R&B
and he released three other Mitchell-produced albums -- Al Green Is
Love (1975), Full of Fire (1976), Have a Good Time (1976) -- after the
incident. However, his albums began to sound formulaic, and his sales
started to slip by the end of 1976, with disco cutting heavily into his
audience.
In order to break free from his slump, Green stopped working with
Willie Mitchell in 1977 and built his own studio, American Music, where
he intended to produce his own records. The first album he made at
American Music was The Belle Album, an intimate record that was
critically acclaimed but failed to win a crossover audience. Truth and
Time (1978) failed to even generate a major R&B hit. During a
concert in Cincinnati in 1979, Green fell off the stage and nearly
injured himself seriously. Interpreting the accident as a sign from
God, Green retired from performing secular music and devoted himself to
preaching. Throughout the '80s, he released a series of gospel albums
on Myrrh Records. In 1982, Green appeared in the gospel musical Your
Arms Too Short to Box With God with Patti Labelle. In 1985, he reunited
with Willie Mitchell for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M
Records.
Green tentatively returned to R&B in 1988 when he sang Put a
Little Love in Your Heart with Annie Lennox for the Bill Murray comedy
Scrooged. Four years later, he recorded his first full-fledged soul
album since 1978 with the U.K.-only Don't Look Back. Al Green was
inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. That same year,
he released Your Heart's in Good Hands, an urban contemporary record
that represented his first secular album to be released in America
since Truth and Time. Though the album received positive reviews, it
failed to become a hit. Green did achieve widespread recognition eight
years later with his first album for Blue Note, I Can't Stop. One and a
half years, he followed it with Everything's OK. ~ Stephen Thomas
Erlewine, All Music Guide
Written by Stephen Thomas Erlewine