Green, Al (originally, Greene)

Green, Al (originally, Greene), one of the premier soul singers of the first half of the 1970s; b. Forrest City, Ark., April 13, 1946. Al Green attained his R&B and pop successes on the basis of his affecting songwriting and high, sensual voice, and the production and arrangements of Memphis’s Willie Mitchell. Pursuing a career as a preacher and gospel singer since the late 1970s, Green became one of gospel music’s most popular artists in the 1980s and 1990s, and has occasion-ally returned to secular music.

Al Green began singing with the family gospel group The Greene Brothers when he was nine years old, remaining with them until he was 16. He toured with the group, making his first recordings with them for Fargo Records in 1960. His father was dismayed when he heard the young singer listening to Jackie Wilson’s music, and he dismissed Al from the group. By now living in Grand Rapids, Mich., Al Green quickly formed his own pop group, The Creations, active from 1964 to 1967. Under the new name the Soul Mates, with Lee Virgins and brother Robert in 1967-1968, the group scored a smash R&B and moderate pop hit with “Back Up Train” on Hot Line Records.

Spotted by bandleader-producer Willie Mitchell in Midland, Tex., in 1969, Al Green signed with the Memphis-based Hi label. After several major R&B-only hits in 1970, he initiated a series of pop and R&B smashes with his own ’Tired of Being Alone” in 1971. Writing his own material, either alone or in collaboration with Mitchell and Al Jackson (of Booker T. and the MGs), Green topped both the pop and R&B charts with “Let’s Stay Together.” I’m Still in Love with You, his most popular album, yielded two crossover smashes, “Look What You’ve Done to Me” and the title track. Subsequent crossover smashes through 1974 include “You Ought to Be with Me,” “Call Me (Come Back Home),” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me),” “Livin’ for You,” “Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy),” and “L-O-V-E (Love).” R&B smashes continued through 1976 with “Let’s Get Married,” “Oh Me, Oh My (Dreams in My Arms),” “Full of Fire,” and “Keep Me Cryin’.”

In 1974 Green was attacked by a former girlfriend, who poured hot grits on the star and then killed herself; this incident apparently inspired his conversion to Christianity. On Dec. 17, 1976, Green opened the Full Gospel Tabernacle, his own church in Memphis. however, he did not turn his back entirely on secular music; in 1977 he broke with Willie Mitchell, to produce his next recording, The Belle Album, which featured the hit “Belle.” Two years later a second incident, a fall from stage that could have left him seriously injured, convinced Green that he must abandon his secular career. In the 1980s he recorded gospel albums and was eventually embraced by churchgoing record buyers, becoming one of gospel music’s best- selling black male artists. Performing on the gospel circuit, Al Green returned to the pop charts in late 1988 with the near-smash hit “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” recorded with Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics. A 1992 secular album recorded in Memphis has yet to be released in the United States. In 1995 Al Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Discography

AL GREENE Back Up Train (1968). AL GREEN: A. G. (rec. 1967-68; rel. 1972); Green Is Blues (1969); A.G. Gets Next to You (1971); Let’s Stay Together (1972); I’m Still in Love with You (1972); Call Me (1973); Livin’for You (1973); Call Me/Livin’ for You (1986); A. G. Explores Your Mind (1974); Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1975); A. G. Is Love (1975); Full of Fire (1976); Have a Good Time (1976); Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1977); The Belle Album (1977); Tired of Being Alone (1977); Can’t Get Next to You (1977); Let’s Stay Together (1978); Truth ’n’ Time (1978); Tokyo Live (1995); Love Ritual (rec. 1968-76; rel. 1978); Your Heart’s in Good Hands (1995). GOSPELALBUMS : The Lord Will Make a Way (1980); I’ll Rise Again (1983); Precious Lord (1985); Trust in God (1984); He Is the Light (1985); Soul Survivor (1987); I Get Joy (1989); One in a Million (1991); Love Is Reality (1992); Gospel Soul (1993); Your Heart’s in Good Hands (1995).

—Brock Helander