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Alabama Music Achievers

TAKE 6 - Huntsville, Alabama
-A "Contemporary Christian A Cappella Pop Jazz" group
-Debut album hit the inspirational, spiritual, and jazz charts all at the same time
-Heard on Spike Lee's movie soundtrack, "Do The Right Thing" and Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy"

JIMMIE TARLTON - Phenix City, Alabama
--At age six, Tarlton was playing banjo and French harp, he later took up the guitar and learned to play bottleneck, using glass and a knife. In the '20s, he also discovered the Hawaiian guitar style.
-He began recording with Tom Darby in 1927, but across his career, his performances included collaborations with Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, the Delmore Brothers, and the Skillet Lickers, among numerous others.
- Tarlton and Darby had substantial hits with "Cumberland Stockade Blues" and "Birmingham Jail,"
-By the mid-'40s, Tarlton had left the music business.
-He was rediscovered in 1963, living in Phenix City, AL and became a renowned figure in the folk and folk-blues revival.
-Tarlton became one of a handful of figures who preserved a style of music-making that would otherwise have been lost and embellished it into becoming something new and all his own.

CARMOL TAYLOR - Brilliant, Alabama
-Carmol Taylor was best known as a honky-tonk songwriter, but he was also a talented performer.
-He began playing professionally in his early teens. When he teamed up with Billy Sherrill to form Carmol Taylor and the Country Pals. The group stayed together for over 20 years
-As a songwriter during the 1970s he had several major hits including "He Loves Me All the Way," "My Man," "The Grand Tour," and "There's a Song on the Jukebox."
-In 1985, he and Gary Lumpkin provided George Jones and Lacy J. Dalton with a Top 20 hit, "Size Seven Round (Made of Gold)."

SAM TAYLOR - Mobile, Alabama
- He was with Joey Dee and the Starliters (of Peppermint Twist fame)
-He also played with Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, T-Bone Walker, Solomon Burke, Little Johnny Taylor and Big Joe Turner.
-Says he sold the song "Midnight Rambler" to the Rolling Stones (unconfirmed).

TEMPTATIONS - Birmingham, Alabama
- One of Motown's greatest and grittiest vocal groups of the '60s, and pioneers of psychedelic soul during the early '70s.
-A trio comprised of tenor Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams (no relation to Otis), and Kell Osborne, relocated to the Motor City from their native Alabama and joined with baritone Otis Williams, Elbridge (aka El, or Al) Bryant, and bass vocalist Melvin Franklin, also from Alabama to form the Temptations
- In 1964, they emerged with the pop smash "The Way You Do the Things You Do," the first in a series of 37 career Top Ten hits.
- in 1965 they released their signature song, "My Girl," a number one pop and R&B hit; other Top 20 hits that year included "It's Growing," "Since I Lost My Baby," "Don't Look Back," and "My Baby."
- In 1966, the Tempts recorded "Get Ready" and the smash "Ain't Too Proud to Beg,"
-In 1968 success they scored another hit with "I Wish It Would Rain" and the psychedelic-influenced hit "Cloud Nine."
-The Temptations were one of the most successful groups in black music history

TONI TENNILLE - Montgomery, Alabama
-Teamed with her husband to form one of the most popular duos of the 70s, Captain and Tennille.
-She is known for her pop, rock, jazz and orchestral music and has sold more than a million records with popular hits like "Do That to Me One More Time" and "The Way I Want to Touch You."
- The duo earned an impressive five gold albums, six gold singles, two platinum albums and one platinum single.
- In 1976, the two entered the television scene with their own show on ABC, Captain & Tennille Variety Show, and appeared on several other ABC specials.
-Earned "Record of the Year" Grammy Award for 1975 single, "Love Will Keep Us Together"
-Studying classical piano for ten years allowed Toni Tennille to broaden her career to include songwriting. Through her participation in the Captain & Tennille, her orchestra tours across the United States and Canada, her jazz and pop albums and her television appearances, Toni Tennille has become known as a complete singer and entertainer.

GORDON TERRY - Moulton, Alabama
-Performed with Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and many others
-He & Bob Wills were the first two inductees into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 1981
-Co-starred in TV series Sky King

WILLIE MAE "BIG MAMA" THORNTON - Montgomery, Alabama
-Powerhouse blues and R&B singer, the original "Hound Dog" belter, and one of the most important female architects of rock & roll.
-She only had one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, effectively obscuring Thornton's chief claim to immortality.
- in 1968 her first vinyl rendition of "Ball and Chain" and two albums for Mercury in 1969-1970 put her back in circulation "Ball and Chain" was later recorded by Janis Joplin

THRASHER BROTHERS - Heflin, Alabama
-Best known for their career as Gospel singers yet they also performed Country & Opera
-Received five Grammy Awards
-Biggest hit "One Day At A Time" in 1975

BILLY TODD - Sylacauga, Alabama

THE TRENIERS - Mobile, Alabama
-Billed as the longest running act in the Las Vegas lounge circuit
-Entertained audiences for over four decades, performing in Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, and hotel and nightclub showrooms in Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Miami, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Cape Cod

AL TURNEY - Falkville, Alabama
-Writer of Don Williams' #1 hit "I Wouldn't Want To Live If You Didn't Love Me" in 1974
-Wrote hits for Mel Street and Ricky Lynn Greg

Alphabetical Achievers Listing