RIP Barry Beckett

Veteran Muscle Shoals session musician and producer Barry Beckett died Wednesday at his home in Hendersonville, TN at age 66. Though most music fans won't know his name, Beckett was a legend as a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and had a long career as a record producer. They were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall Of Fame last October. He was born Feb. 4, 1943 in Birmingham, AL. Beckett was keyboard player for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section AKA The Swampers and started out playing on all kinds of soul albums in the 60s. Beckett joined this all star session band in 1966 and the first record he played on was James & Bobby Purify's I'm Your Puppet. They got the attention of Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler and they played on the Percy Sledge hit When A Man Loves A Woman. Wexler started bringing all his artists to Muscle Shoals including Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson started their own Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969. Beckett started to branch out as a producer. He produced I'll Take You There by The Staple Singers and Paul Simon's Kodachrome, Mary McGregor's Torn Between Two Lovers and also has produced Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Delbert McClinton, Alabama and many others. Muscle Shoals Sound Studios was sold to Malaco Records in 1978 and Beckett continued to produce artists like Bobby Blue Bland and Z.Z. Hill until he left the studio in 1982 to become head of A & R for Warner Bros. Nashville. He continued to produce best selling artists like Hank Williams Jr. and The Forrester Sisters. In 1989, he became Vice President at RCA Nashville and produced Etta James and Kenny Chesney among others. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Beckett continued to produce artists like gospel singer Lynda Randle in recent years until he was diagnosed with cancer and then suffered a series of strokes until his death on Wednesday. So you may not know who Barry Beckett was but you've heard his music. I did find one video clip of Barry Beckett. This is Ronee Blakely with The Swampers performing Please on Saturday Night Live in the 80s. There are a couple of shots of Beckett during the clip. You may recall Blakely starred in Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville. RIP Barry Beckett.