Bonny "Mack" Rice (November 10, 1933 – June 27, 2016), sometimes credited as Sir Mack Rice, was an American songwriter and singer. His best-known composition and biggest hit as a solo performer was " Mustang Sally". He also wrote "

Respect Yourself "Respect Yourself" is a song by American R&B/gospel group the Staple Singers. Released in late 1971 from their album '' Be Altitude: Respect Yourself'', the song became a crossover hit. The Staple Singers' version peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 1 ...

" with

Luther Ingram Luther Thomas Ingram (November 30, 1937 – March 19, 2007) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. His most successful record, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and No. 3 ...

Life and career

Rice was born in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

. In 1950, his family moved to

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, where he began his work in the R&B field, performing with the Five Scalders in 1956. From 1957–63, he performed with

the Falcons ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, a group whose members included

Eddie Floyd Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in ...

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

and

Joe Stubbs Joe Stubbs (born Joseph Stubbles; December 9, 1942 – February 5, 1998) was an American R&B/soul singer who became the lead singer of four different groups throughout his recording career. He was the younger brother of The Four Tops' lead Levi ...

. He performed as a solo vocalist in the years to follow, but his biggest successes were as songwriter for other artists on labels like

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface (API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read in ...

and others in the 1960s and following decades. He began his solo vocalist career at Stax in 1967, recording on

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

beginning in 1968. Rice is one of the few musicians whose career touched both Motown and Stax Records. As a solo recording artist, he had two chart hits: "Mustang Sally", which reached number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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in 1965, and "Coal Man", which reached number 48 on the

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

chart in 1969.

Songwriter

Rice's biggest success was as a songwriter. Besides "Mustang Sally", which also became a major hit for Wilson Pickett in 1966, and "Respect Yourself", a hit for the

Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

, his other songs include "Betcha Can't Kiss Me (Just One Time)", "Cheaper to Keep Her", "Cadillac Assembly Line", "Money Talks", "Cold Women With Warm Hearts", "Do the Funky Penguin, Pt. 1", "It Sho Ain't Me", and "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'". His compositions have been performed by many well-known artists, including the Staple Singers,

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Rufus Thomas Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Rec ...

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

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, Wilson Pickett,

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

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and

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(in ''

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'').

Chart hits and other notable songs written by Mack Rice

Later years and death

In 1992, backed by the soul band The Dynatones, Rice released his first solo album, ''Right Now'' on Blue Suit Records. On it he reprised a number of his hit songs along with a mixture of new tunes. Rice continued to live in the Detroit area. He died at home in Detroit on June 27, 2016, aged 82, from complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

.Mehr, Bob (June 27, 2016
"'Mustang Sally' author 'Sir' Mack Rice dies"
''Commercial Appeal''.

References

External links

1933 births 2016 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in Michigan Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi Singers from Detroit Singers from Mississippi Songwriters from Michigan Songwriters from Mississippi African-American male songwriters 20th-century African-American male singers {{US-songwriter-stub