Dan Penn
Encyclopedia
Dan Penn is an American
singer, songwriter
, record producer
and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul
hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
" (with Chips Moman
) and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby" (with Spooner Oldham
). Penn has also produced hits such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops
, amongst others. Though he is considered to be one of the great white soul singers, Penn has a meagre recorded output, preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting & producing.
, Alabama
and spent much of his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals
area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios
as a performer, songwriter and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty
in the same year, and was later covered by James Brown. The success of "I'm Your Puppet," a #6 pop hit for James & Bobby Purify
, convinced him that songwriting was a worthwhile (and lucrative) career choice.
, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr
and has been recorded by many others since, notably by Roy Hamilton, Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Elvis Costello, Frank Black, Gram Parsons
, Richard & Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris
and by Linda Ronstadt
. It was also used in the hit movie "The Commitments". A few months later, during the legendary recording sessions that saw Jerry Wexler
introduce Aretha 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 #37 in Billboard in 1967. The song has since been recorded many times including by Barbara Mandrell, Cher, Etta James, Joan Baez, Marva Wright, Phoebe Snow and Willie Nelson. It has also been recorded with Japanese lyrics as "Onna No Sadame". In early 1967 Penn produced "The Letter" for The Box Tops. He and long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like a Baby" , another song which has been covered many times, including by Cher, Kiki Dee, Kim Carnes and Lulu. Other songs written or co-written by Penn which have been recorded many times include "I'm Your Puppet" a #6 hit in 1966 for James and Bobby Purify, and also recorded by Sam & Dave, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Irma Thomas, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Peter & Gordan and Tierra, "Woman Left Lonely" recorded by Janis Joplin,Elkie Brooks, (Do Right Woman) Charlie Rich, Cat Power, Irma Thomas, Rita Coolidge, Patti Page and Clementine, and "Sweet Inspiration" a #5 hit for the Sweet Inspirations in 1968, and also recorded by the Supremes, Vonda Sheppard, Rita Coolidge and Wislon Pickett, and "You Left The Water Running" a #42 hit for Otis Redding
in 1966, and later recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Huey Lewis and Wilson Pickett.
Other notable songs written or co-written by Dan Penn are "I Hate You" recorded by Bobby "Blue" Bland and Jerry Lee Lewis, "I Got a Feelin For You" recorded by Kelly Willis, "I'm Not Done Lovin' You Yet" record by Neil Young's wide wife Pegi on her solo album, "LIke A Road Leading Home" recorded by Albert King and Jerry Garcia, "Nobody's Fool" recorded by Alex Chilton, "Time I Took A Holiday" recorded by Nick Lowe, "Where You Gettin' It" recorded by Theryl "Houseman" Clouet, "Out of Left Field" recorded by Percy Sledge and Hank Williams Jr. and "Slippin' Around" recorded by Clarence Carter and the Detroit Cobras.
Penn continued writing & producing hits for numerous artists during the 60s and finally released a record of his own, Nobody's Fool, in 1972. He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man" which saw him reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis & Muscle Shoals
. He also has recently written and produced for the Hacienda Brothers
.
He now lives in Nashville
and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries such as Donnie Fritts, Gary Nicholson and Norbert Putnam
. He and Carson Whitsett
have had their collaborations recorded by Irma Thomas
and Johnny Adams
and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and later, Hoy Lindsey. The Penn/Whitsett/Lindsey team are responsible for Solomon Burke
's "Don't Give Up On Me" (also recorded by Joe Cocker), and Penn produced 2005's Better to Have It by Bobby Purify that featured twelve songs from the team.
He and Oldham also tour together as their schedules permit.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" is a single by Aretha Franklin. It was released in March 1967. Rolling Stone listed it as number 476 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-Production:...
" (with Chips Moman
Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
) and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby" (with Spooner Oldham
Spooner Oldham
Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and at FAME Studios on such hit R&B songs as "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett and "I Never Loved a Man" by Aretha...
). Penn has also produced hits such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops
The Box Tops
The Box Tops were a Memphis rock group of the second half of the 1960s. They are best known for the hits "The Letter," "Neon Rainbow," "Soul Deep," "I Met Her in Church," and "Cry Like A Baby," and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period...
, amongst others. Though he is considered to be one of the great white soul singers, Penn has a meagre recorded output, preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting & producing.
Early life and career
Penn grew up in VernonVernon, Alabama
Vernon is a city in Lamar County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 2,143. The city is the county seat of Lamar County.- Geography :Vernon is located at .According to the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and spent much of his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 12,846. The city is included in The Shoals MSA. It is famous for its contributions to American popular music.-Geography:Muscle Shoals is located...
area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios
FAME Studios
FAME Studios are located at 603 East Avalon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 1950s to the present...
as a performer, songwriter and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...
in the same year, and was later covered by James Brown. The success of "I'm Your Puppet," a #6 pop hit for James & Bobby Purify
James & Bobby Purify
James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached #6 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version #12 in the UK Singles Chart , and "Let Love Come Between Us" in 1967, which reached #23 in the U.S.James Lee Purify was...
, convinced him that songwriting was a worthwhile (and lucrative) career choice.
Career moves
In early 1966, Penn moved to MemphisMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr
James Carr (musician)
James Carr , was an American Rhythm & Blues and soul singer.Born to a Baptist preacher's family in Coahoma, Mississippi, Carr began singing in church and was performing in gospel groups and making tables on an assembly line in Memphis, Tennessee, when he began recording in the mid-'60s for Goldwax...
and has been recorded by many others since, notably by Roy Hamilton, Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Elvis Costello, Frank Black, Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
, Richard & Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
and by Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
. It was also used in the hit movie "The Commitments". A few months later, during the legendary recording sessions that saw Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
introduce Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
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 #37 in Billboard in 1967. The song has since been recorded many times including by Barbara Mandrell, Cher, Etta James, Joan Baez, Marva Wright, Phoebe Snow and Willie Nelson. It has also been recorded with Japanese lyrics as "Onna No Sadame". In early 1967 Penn produced "The Letter" for The Box Tops. He and long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like a Baby" , another song which has been covered many times, including by Cher, Kiki Dee, Kim Carnes and Lulu. Other songs written or co-written by Penn which have been recorded many times include "I'm Your Puppet" a #6 hit in 1966 for James and Bobby Purify, and also recorded by Sam & Dave, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Irma Thomas, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Peter & Gordan and Tierra, "Woman Left Lonely" recorded by Janis Joplin,Elkie Brooks, (Do Right Woman) Charlie Rich, Cat Power, Irma Thomas, Rita Coolidge, Patti Page and Clementine, and "Sweet Inspiration" a #5 hit for the Sweet Inspirations in 1968, and also recorded by the Supremes, Vonda Sheppard, Rita Coolidge and Wislon Pickett, and "You Left The Water Running" a #42 hit for Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
in 1966, and later recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Huey Lewis and Wilson Pickett.
Other notable songs written or co-written by Dan Penn are "I Hate You" recorded by Bobby "Blue" Bland and Jerry Lee Lewis, "I Got a Feelin For You" recorded by Kelly Willis, "I'm Not Done Lovin' You Yet" record by Neil Young's wide wife Pegi on her solo album, "LIke A Road Leading Home" recorded by Albert King and Jerry Garcia, "Nobody's Fool" recorded by Alex Chilton, "Time I Took A Holiday" recorded by Nick Lowe, "Where You Gettin' It" recorded by Theryl "Houseman" Clouet, "Out of Left Field" recorded by Percy Sledge and Hank Williams Jr. and "Slippin' Around" recorded by Clarence Carter and the Detroit Cobras.
Penn continued writing & producing hits for numerous artists during the 60s and finally released a record of his own, Nobody's Fool, in 1972. He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man" which saw him reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis & Muscle Shoals
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio
The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in Muscle Shoals, Alabama,in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett , Roger Hawkins , Jimmy Johnson and David Hood left FAME Studios to create their own studio...
. He also has recently written and produced for the Hacienda Brothers
Hacienda Brothers
The Hacienda Brothers is the name of an alternative country band composed of Chris Gaffney, Dave Gonzalez, Dave Berzansky, Dale Daniel, and Hank Maninger. They have been described as "the finest country-rock band since the Flying Burrito Brothers in their prime," and were called "the best country...
.
He now lives in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries such as Donnie Fritts, Gary Nicholson and Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. He grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry...
. He and Carson Whitsett
Carson Whitsett
Carson Whitsett was an American keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer.-Biography:...
have had their collaborations recorded by Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....
and Johnny Adams
Johnny Adams
Laten John Adams , known as Johnny Adams, was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto...
and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and later, Hoy Lindsey. The Penn/Whitsett/Lindsey team are responsible for Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
's "Don't Give Up On Me" (also recorded by Joe Cocker), and Penn produced 2005's Better to Have It by Bobby Purify that featured twelve songs from the team.
He and Oldham also tour together as their schedules permit.
Discography
- Nobody's Fool (1973)
- Do Right Man (1994)
- Moments From This Theatre (1999) - live recording, with Spooner Oldham
- Blue Nite Lounge (1999)
- "Junk Yard Junky" (2008)
External links
- Dandy Records Penn's record label
- Alabama Music Hall of Fame partial list of hits
- FAME Studios brief bio
- The Box Tops interview & commentary
- Chicago Sun-Times interview