Penn grew up inVernon,Alabama, United States,[1] and spent much of his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities–Muscle Shoals area.[6] He was a regular at Rick Hall'sFAME Studios as a performer, songwriter, and producer.[1] It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960,[7] and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?", which was recorded byConway Twitty in the same year.[1] The success of the number 6 pop hit "I'm Your Puppet" byJames & Bobby Purify in 1966 convinced him that songwriting was a lucrative and worthwhile career.[8]
In early 1966, Penn moved toMemphis, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at hisAmerican Sound Studio.[9] Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of thesoul genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "The Dark End of the Street" (1967), was first a hit forJames Carr and has since been recorded by many others.[1] A few months later, during a recording sessions in whichJerry Wexler introducedAretha Franklin to FAME Studios and her first major success, the pair wrote "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" in the studio for her, which went to number 37 in Billboard in 1967. In early 1967, Penn produced "The Letter" for the Box Tops.[1] Along with long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham, Penn also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like a Baby,"[1] another song that has been covered many times.[10]
Penn continued writing and producing hits for numerous artists during the 1960s and finally released four sides of his own onHappy Tiger in 1970, including "Nobody's Fool."[19] An album of the same name followed onBell in 1973.[1] He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man," for which he reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis andMuscle Shoals Sound Studio.[20] He also has recently written and produced for theHacienda Brothers.[21]
He now lives inNashville and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries, such as Donnie Fritts,Gary Nicholson, andNorbert Putnam.Carson Whitsett and Penn have had their collaborations recorded byIrma Thomas andJohnny Adams and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and, later, Hoy Lindsey. The team of Penn, Whitsett, and Lindsey were responsible for the title track ofSolomon Burke's albumDon't Give Up on Me (also recorded by Joe Cocker[22]), and Penn produced 2005'sBetter to Have It by Bobby Purify, which featured twelve songs from the team.[23] Oldham and he also tour together as their schedules permit.
In November 2012, the collectionThe Fame Recordings was released.[24][25] It included 24 numbers (23 unreleased) Penn had recorded at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, between 1964 and 1966.[26] In the fall of 2013, he was inducted in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.[27]
Moments From This Theatre (1999): Live recording (with Spooner Oldham) - Recorded live at various venues, November 1998, in Ireland and the United Kingdom
Blue Nite Lounge (1999)
Junk Yard Junky (2008)
The Fame Recordings (2012): Compilation
The Complete "Live" Duo Recordings - Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (2015): Double pack. "Moments From This Theatre" CD plus bonus 22-track DVD recorded live June 1, 2006 at St. James Church, Piccadilly, London
Close To Me: More Fame Recordings (2016): Compilation
