Rick Hall  unlikely producer of soul sound dead at 85
Rick Hall
New York (AFP) â  Rick Hall   the white fiddler who became an unlikely force in soul music and made the small town of Muscle Shoals  Alabama  an international destination  has died at age 85  his family said Wednesday.
 Hall  turned his studio in a go-to hub for soul music  with distinctive horns and a steady rhythm section complementing the vocal powers of visiting singers.
The studio had its breakthrough when  Hall  licensed Percy Sledgeâs âWhen a Man Loves a Woman â recorded nearby  and labels soon were sending star talent to Fame to make their albums.
But the sessions with Franklin ended in disaster when  Hall  got into a fistfight with the divaâs then husband  Ted White  who demanded that the studio owner fire musicians for allegedly harassing his wife.
 Hall  often marveled at how Muscle Shoals became internationally known. Musicians under  Hall  in 1969 founded the separate Muscle Shoals Sound Studio  where The Rolling Stones recorded parts of their acclaimed âSticky Fingersâ album.
 Hall âs prominence in African American music was unexpected in Alabama  one of the most conservative US states whose governor George Wallace had vowed to preserve segregation forever.
âIâm one of them. I feel black â  Hall  later told television host Larry King.
 Hall  had grown up in grinding poverty  with his father working in a sawmill and his mother leaving to help run a brothel.
 Hall   after quitting a factory job  became a fiddler and found his passion for country music  gradually earning a living as a songwriter and taking over the local studio.
New York (AFP) â   [TGT]    the white fiddler who became an unlikely force in soul music and made the small town of Muscle Shoals  Alabama  an international destination  has died at age 85  his family said Wednesday.
  [TGT] turned his studio in a go-to hub for soul music  with distinctive horns and a steady rhythm section complementing the vocal powers of visiting singers.
The studio had its breakthrough when   [TGT] licensed Percy Sledgeâs âWhen a Man Loves a Woman â recorded nearby  and labels soon were sending star talent to Fame to make their albums.
But the sessions with Franklin ended in disaster when   [TGT] got into a fistfight with the divaâs then husband  Ted White  who demanded that the studio owner fire musicians for allegedly harassing his wife.
  [TGT] often marveled at how Muscle Shoals became internationally known. Musicians under  Hall  in 1969 founded the separate Muscle Shoals Sound Studio  where The Rolling Stones recorded parts of their acclaimed âSticky Fingersâ album.
 Hall âs prominence in African American music was unexpected in Alabama  one of the most conservative US states whose governor George Wallace had vowed to preserve segregation forever.
âIâm one of them. I feel black â   [TGT] later told television host Larry King.
  [TGT] had grown up in grinding poverty  with  [TGT]  father working in a sawmill and  [TGT]  mother leaving to help run a brothel.
 Hall   after quitting a factory job  became a fiddler and found his passion for country music  gradually earning a living as a songwriter and taking over the local studio.