Studio Musicians
James Gadson is among the most recorded drummers in history! His career began as a member of the Charles Wright band in the late 1960s and soon expanded to studio work. James can be heard on thousands of hit recordings with artists ranging from Paul McCartney to Rose Royce. His Hal Leonard DVD...
Chuck Berghofer is the answer to such trivia questions as Who played bass on Nancy Sinatra's big hit "These Boots Where Made For Walking" and Who is playing the bass lick for the TV theme song for "Barney Miller." Chuck has been a mainstay in the Los Angeles studios since the 1960s and worked with...
Steve Gadd has a long and strong friendship with the music products industry going back to his first visit to a music store as a kid and his long career as a product endorser and NAMM guest! However, it’s his influence as a drummer and clinician that has placed Steve as an important inspiration to...
Archie “Hubby” Turner served in the US Army during the Vietnam War and always felt the experience taught him, among other things, to appreciate the opportunity you have to add beauty and music to the world. Archie has done just that as a session player in Memphis, including at Hi Records. His...
Bob Wray remembers the day he was sitting in the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama when Clarence Carter outlined the next song he was ready to cut. Bob was to play guitar on the song, which was “Patches.” The song was the biggest in Mr. Carter’s career and Bob knew then and there that...
Floyd Newman is among the most noted studio musicians from the early days of Stax Records in Memphis. As a saxophonist, Floyd became an integral part of the studio band at Stax Records known as the Mar-Keys. He was also a member of the famed Memphis Horns group, which was formed by Wayne Jackson...
Milton Sledge is the studio musician best known for a string of sessions in Muscle Shoals, Alabama as well as several albums with country super-star Garth Brooks. With Garth, Milton wrote and played drums on several key albums including the self-titled 1987 Capitol release, “No Fences,” “Ropin’...
David Hood is the co-founder of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. The studio was formed in 1969 when four session musicians left Frame Studios to create their own recording studio. The four, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David, were first a well-known rhythm section that...
Jimmy Johnson was a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama along with fellow studio musicians Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood. The four musicians, known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, started playing together in and around Jimmy’s hometown of Sheffield, Alabama,...
Donnie Fritts was born in Florence, Alabama, the right place at the right time to grow up to become a studio musician and songwriter. Just a little way down the road from where Donnie grew up was the epicenter of the Muscle Shoals Sound –and Donnie was there, front and center! In the mid-1960s,...