William Lawrence Mitchell (March 1, 1928 – January 5, 2010) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, soul, R&B, rock and roll, pop and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

record producer and arranger who ran Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. He was best known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, which released albums by a large stable of popular

Memphis soul Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn line ...

artists, including Mitchell himself,

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

, O. V. Wright, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles and

Quiet Elegance Quiet Elegance were an American female singing group founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in 1971. The group toured extensively as backing singers and also recorded a number of Soul and Southern soul music singles during the 1970s. Two a ...

Biography

Born and raised in Ashland, Mississippi, Mitchell moved to Memphis when he was in high school. He attended Rust College.Howard, David N. (2004). ''Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings'', pp. 150–51. Hal Leonard Corporation. . At the age of eight, he began to play the trumpet. While in high school, he was a featured player in popular local big bands. He later formed his own combo, which from time to time included musicians such as trumpeter Booker Little, saxophonists Charles Lloyd, and George Coleman, and pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. Ashland-Mitchell-marker-ms

Mitchell landed a job with the Home of the Blues record label as a producer, then left to join Hi Records as both a recording artist and a producer. Known at the recording studio as "Papa Willie", Mitchell earned his nickname by taking over the reins of Hi Records in 1970 and guiding it through its most successful period. Mitchell's productions have been much noted for featuring a hard-hitting bass drum sound (usually played by pioneering Memphis drummer

Al Jackson, Jr. Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced the ...

of Booker T. & the M.G.'s). A trumpeter and bandleader in his own right, Mitchell released a number of popular singles for Hi Records as an artist in the 1960s, including " Soul Serenade." It peaked at number 43 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1968. Through the 1980s, Mitchell ran his own

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Waylo Records. Acts on the label included Billy Always and Lynn White. In 1987, Joyce Cobb recorded several singles for Waylo, one of which made it to No. 3 on the British R&B chart: "Another Lonely Night (Without You)", while in 1987, Mitchell worked on a version of Wet Wet Wet's debut album, which was issued in 1988 as '' The Memphis Sessions''. He and

revived their successful recording partnership in 2003 when Green recorded ''I Can't Stop'', his first collaboration with Mitchell since 1985's '' He is the Light''. Their 2005 follow-up project was ''Everything's OK''. Mitchell died in Memphis on January 5, 2010, from a cardiac arrest. His final work was producing the final

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

studio album, ''Nothing's Impossible'', released in June 2010.

Discography

* 1963: ''Sunrise Serenade'' * 1964: ''20-75'' * 1964: ''Hold It'' * 1965: ''It's Dance Time'' * 1966: ''It's What's Happenin * 1966: ''The Hit Sound Of Willie Mitchell'' * 1967: ''Ooh Baby, You Turn Me On'' * 1968: ''Willie Mitchell Live at the Royal'' * 1968: ''Soul Serenade'' * 1969: ''On Top'' * 1969: ''Solid Soul'' * 1969: ''Soul Bag'' * 1970: ''Robbin's Nest'' * 1970: ''The Many Moods of Willie Mitchell'' * 1971: ''Listen Dance'' * 1977: ''Willie Mitchell Live'' * 1981: ''Willie Willie Willie'' * 1986: ''That Driving Beat'' * 2001: ''Poppa Willie The Hi Years / 1962-74'' * 2003: ''Walkin' With Willie'' * 2008: ''Best Damn Fool'' (with Buddy Guy)

Singles

* ^A"Soul Serenade" peaked at number 32 on Billboard Adult Contemporary chart

References

External links

*
Musician Willie Mitchell dead at 82

Famed musician, record producer Willie Mitchell dies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Willie 1928 births 2010 deaths African-American songwriters American bandleaders American music industry executives Record producers from Mississippi Record producers from Tennessee American soul musicians American trumpeters American male trumpeters Hi Records artists Musicians from Mississippi Soul-blues musicians Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee People from Ashland, Mississippi Songwriters from Tennessee Songwriters from Mississippi Bearsville Records artists 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people American male songwriters