CHIPS MOMAN

I saw that Chips Moman had died a couple of weeks ago; it had happened while I was on the ward and so passed me by. I don’t think he died penniless but he certainly died in obscurity.

Short synopsis of Chips Moman’s achievements:

Wrote Do Right Woman, Do Right Man for Aretha Franklin.

Played guitar on the Aretha session that produced I Never Loved a Man.

Played lead on Warren Smith’s Got Love if you Want It, one of the great overlooked Rock ‘N Roll records out of Sun.

Owned Scotty Moore’s guitar; the Gibson L5CES that he played on Mystery Train. It was sold at auction at Christies in London a few years ago for £70000. He also acquired Scotty’s first Gibson, the ES295 of which only around 1700 were ever made and which became almost priceless.

Kick-started Elvis’ career/brought Elvis back from the dead by producing his 1969 album From Elvis in Memphis which delivered In the Ghetto his first top ten single for four years, as well as classics such as Suspicious Minds and Gentle on my Mind.

Was a producer at Stax for many years during the great period.