Chips Moman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lincoln Wayne Moman (1937-06-12)June 12, 1937 LaGrange, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | June 13, 2016(2016-06-13) (aged 79) LaGrange, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genres | Record producer, guitarist, songwriter, recording engineer |
| Years active | 1950–2016 |
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman (June 12, 1937 – June 13, 2016)[1] was an Americanrecord producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working inR&B,pop music andcountry music, operatingAmerican Sound Studios and producing hit albums likeElvis Presley's 1969From Elvis in Memphis andthe 1985 debut album forThe Highwaymen. Moman won aGrammy Award for co-writing "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", a 1975 hit forB.J. Thomas.
Moman was born inLaGrange, Georgia.[2] After moving toMemphis, Tennessee, as ateenager, he played in the roadband ofWarren Smith, before moving toLos Angeles around 1957 withJohnny Burnette's band and then touring withGene Vincent. While in Los Angeles, he playedguitar on sessions recorded at theGold Star Studios.[3]
Returning to Memphis, he began an association with Satellite Records (laterStax Records), helping find the disusedmovie theater on McLemore Avenue that became the Stax headquarters.[2] He worked as the company'srecording engineer and produced their firsthit single,Carla Thomas's 1960 "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)". He also produced the first single for the Staxsubsidiarylabel Volt, "Burnt Biscuits" b/w "Raw Dough," by the Triumphs, whose members included future soul starAl Green anddrummerHoward Grimes. Leaving Stax in 1964 after a monetary dispute with label founderJim Stewart, he began operating his own Memphisrecording studio,American Sound Studio.[3]
At American Sound, he, along withguitaristsReggie Young andBobby Womack,bassistsTommy Cogbill andMike Leech,pianists andorganists Bobby Woods and Bobby Emmons, anddrummer Gene Chrisman, recordedthe Box Tops ("Soul Deep"),Bobby Womack,Merrilee Rush,Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders),Sandy Posey (notably "Born a Woman" and "Single Girl"),Joe Tex,Wilson Pickett,Herbie Mann, Roy Hamilton, andPetula Clark.[3] During this period Moman established a songwriting partnership with fellow Memphis producer and songwriterDan Penn. The pair co-wrote "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", recorded byAretha Franklin, and "The Dark End of the Street", which became the best-known song of thesoul singerJames Carr. Moman also played guitar on Franklin's recording sessions at theFAME Studios inMuscle Shoals.[3][4]
In the 1960s, Moman worked forStax Records before founding theAmerican Sound Studio inMemphis, Tennessee, and later worked extensively inNashville. As a record producer, Moman was known forrecordingElvis Presley,Tammy Wynette,Bobby Womack,Carla Thomas, andMerrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of theBox Tops. As a songwriter, he was responsible forstandards associated withAretha Franklin,James Carr,Waylon Jennings, andB. J. Thomas, including the Grammy-winning "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". He was also asession guitarist for Franklin and other musicians.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, American Sound became one of the most successful recording studios in the country, producing more than 120 charting singles by pop, soul, and country artists and at one point contributing over a quarter of the hits on theBillboardHot 100.[3] Moman producedElvis Presley's 1969album,From Elvis in Memphis – described as "arguably [Presley's] best album".[4] Recording sessions for the album produced hit songs "In the Ghetto", "Suspicious Minds", and "Kentucky Rain," though the latter two did not appear on the album itself.[3] During this time, Moman had a record label American Group Records (AGP), distributed byAmy-Mala-Bell.
Moman left Memphis in 1971 and briefly operated a studio inAtlanta. He moved toNashville, where he married fellow songwriterToni Wine, and where he produced and (with fellow producerLarry Butler) co-wrote a hit for B. J. Thomas, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (1975). This effort earned Moman aGrammy Award. He also co-wrote "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" for Waylon Jennings, and produced albums byWillie Nelson,Gary Stewart,Tammy Wynette,Ronnie Milsap, andPetula Clark.
After a brief return to Memphis in the mid-1980s, during which time his attempt to open a new studio floundered, he settled inLaGrange, Georgia, where he operated anotherrecording studio.[4]
Moman recorded the first demo cut on the song "Always on My Mind". Mark James was working for him as a session musician and Wayne Carson was in the studio recording songs, Carson asking the co-writers to add a bridge to the song that Moman insisted it needed. The musicians felt the song was complete, but Moman refused to record it unless they came up with a bridge on the studio's old piano. The two-line bridge was then added. The song was passed to Elvis via a bodyguard and, consequently, it was not recorded by the studio despite originating in it. However, Moman produced Willie Nelson's version years later. Moman also producedHighwayman, the first studio album released bycountrysupergroupThe Highwaymen, comprisingKris Kristofferson,Johnny Cash,Waylon Jennings, andWillie Nelson.Highwayman, released throughColumbia Records in 1985, was the group's first and most successful album.
Moman died on 13 June 2016, the day after his 79th birthday, at a hospice inLaGrange, Georgia.[5][6] He had been suffering from alung disease and died ofemphysema.[4][7]
