Page 22 - the NOISE November 2014

aretha and the Boys ... Continued froM last Month ... By tony BallZ
“HEY! What the hell is this?”
Everybody turned. There in the doorway stood Ted White,
Mr. Aretha Franklin, looking like the biggest blackest meanest son of a bitch in town. He was not happy.
“YOU, stringbean. Get away from her!”
The mood at FAME Studios had gone from joyous to some-
thing else. Romeo was frozen with Aretha’s shoulders still in his grip.
“I said take your God damn hands off my WIFE, you white- bread motherF*CKER, or I’ll cut ‘em off!”
Romeo’s hands shot up like Aretha was on fire. No one said anything. Even Wexler was at a loss for words. Aretha’s hus- band surveyed the roomful of silent white men.
“F*ck this shit. I’m gettin’ my GUN.”
And as quickly as he had appeared in the doorway, he was
gone. They all heard his angry footsteps crunching across the icy parking lot to his car.
The scene broke. Aretha went after her husband, the girls fol- lowing. Wexler rapidly ushered the musicians out the back door.
“WHERE IS HE??!!”
They ran. They ran through the pitch blackness with no protection against the freezing cold. One by one they disap- peared into the night. A few ended up in a dark tavern out on the highway. They piled into a booth, shivering and out of breath and laughing. One of them smacked Romeo upside his head.
“HEY!”
“That’s for screwing up the best gig we’ll ever have. Assh*le.” “What do you mean?”
“We ain’t playing with her no more. Not unless she’s gettin’ a
divorce anytime soon.”
Ted White put his foot down. Over his dead body was his wife seeing the city limits of Muscle Shoals again.
Aretha and the girls finished the vocals on “Do Right Wom- an” at Atlantic’s main studio in New York, and Jerry Wexler had his A and B sides. The single was rush-released and it was a smash hit, #1 on the R&B charts and #9 pop. All of a sudden, Aretha Franklin was hot property.
Atlantic was eager for a follow-up single and a full LP. Aretha had an idea for an arrangement of Otis Redding’s “Re- spect” from the woman’s point of view, but she needed her boys. Wexler reminded her that Atlantic’s New York studio crew were pretty damn good, but Aretha was adamant.
“I don’t care what that son of a bitch says. That sh*t was magic, Jerry. We got to figure this one out.”
So, between the two of them and without Ted White’s knowledge, a plan was put together.
Atlantic heads Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun held a meeting with Ted White in the label’s plush New York offices, where Aretha’s manager and husband was buttered up good. The men apologized for the Muscle Shoals fiasco and informed him that Aretha Franklin was now their top priority and all future recording was to be done at Atlantic’s big fancy New York studio. With the New York musicians, of course. White was impressed with the obvious respect shown to him. He readily agreed and left the meeting all smiles.
Meanwhile, Jerry Wexler was back in Alabama, at FAME. He told the musicians that, seeing as how “I Never Loved A Man” was such a big hit, the label wanted to try a bold new experi- ment and fly them out to New York for Aretha’s next session.
On Atlantic’s tab, of course. The boys were wary and said they’d think about it.
They put out a few feelers and heard back through the grapevine that Aretha refused to record without them. With this as leverage, they told Wexler they’d do it, but only if the label was willing to do right by them: first-class plane tickets, deluxe accommodations, champagne, steak and lobster din- ners, the works. Oh, and their hourly rates had just gone up too.
Atlantic agreed. And so in February 1967, the Muscle Shoals crew were flown to New York and quietly brought into Atlan- tic Studios on 60th Street and Broadway where they recorded the bulk of Aretha Franklin’s debut LP for the label, named after her first hit. The album was released in March 1967 and went to #1 R&B, #2 pop. Within a year, it had sold a million copies. “Respect” was the next single and it topped both the R&B and pop charts, as well as winning two Grammys.
The plan hatched by Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin worked. For live appearances, a touring band was assembled, separate from the studio crew. Every four months or so, the Alabama boys would clear their schedules for a week and take a little working vacation.
Atlantic’s New York studios were in a large professional office building requiring all guests to be buzzed in by a re- ceptionist. Any time Ted White would drop by to see his wife (which became more and more infrequent, seeing as how he was busy managing a superstar), the band received plenty of warning. They would retire to Wexler’s private bar and tip a few until the coast was clear. Enough of the New York crew was being used for the sessions to make it look like no one was missing. The ploy became unnecessary when Aretha Franklin divorced Ted White in 1969. Aretha used the Muscle Shoals musicians in various combinations until she left Atlan- tic in 1979.
With the initial hubbub surrounding Aretha Franklin, Co- lumbia Records kicked themselves for missing out, then real- ized they had seven years’ worth of her back catalog to re- package and reissue. Which they did.
Aretha Franklin became the Queen Of Soul for real. Her unique blend of toughness and vulnerability won her mil- lions of fans around the globe. Her astounding success gave Aretha the self-confidence to steer her own career. Her song- writing blossomed. Many of her original compositions were single A-sides and smash hits. For her LPs she chose the songs, the players, the producers, even the cover art.
As the years went by she broadened her musical palette, incorporating jazz, funk, disco and new wave into her trade- mark sound. She often tops various polls as the greatest sing- er in history. Her 1972 album Amazing Grace (recorded live in church) is the top selling gospel LP ever. In 1987, she was the first female musician inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
The Muscle Shoals crew played with many other artists, but it was that early 1967 meeting with Aretha Franklin that made the biggest impression on the world. They can tell their grandkids that, once upon a time, they were wined and dined like kings so that men could have the great privilege of re- cording their music.
It was easily a lifestyle they could get used to.
22 • november 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us