Willie Mitchell on Al Green and HI studio

[@MrBoyer1958]

Willie Mitchell was my father's first cousin, I remember when he was in NYC, he stayed at our house. He was extremely talented. RIP

[@jamallabarge2665]

That ending.... 4:54 onward. Mr. Mitchell deserved to sit and enjoy what he started and he and his team completed. Like Mr. Mitchell climbed the mountain and got to enjoy the view. That's a really a nice ending for this video. A lot of us think the world of their music.

[@saintlouis593]

Wow, the great Willie Mitchell!!!

[@jimjackson4111]

Yes!

[@moretimeneeded56]

The one and only

[@robharding5345]

Wow ! he knew he saw something special,.How right he was.

[@hilmarwensorra1215]

In very loving memory of Mr. Willie Lawrence Mitchell (1928 - 2010 R.I.P. Gone but NOT forgotten).

[@sinecam3606]

WILLE THANKS FOR DISCOVERING AL GREEN AND THE REST IS HISTORY !!!!!!!!!

[@brandonbattle5068]

Mic number 9, "My Mic". Haha so cool to hear stories of the journey to greatness. Its the little things that make it great.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Jazz Chords

[@jamallabarge2665]

@@dominiquejones3805 Jazz chords and a talented producer's vision in sound.

[@marigoldcarter2879]

An Unassuming Genius. 🌹

[@polyphemus1268]

This is nothing short of AMAZING!!!!

[@kurtadams3021]

The LEGENDARY Mr. Mitchell

[@dominiquejones3805]

Not brought up enough

[@Lee.Higginbotham]

This is great!! This is when I discovered MEMPHIS SOUL!! Al Green has always been my favorite.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Willie inspired the RZA/sound

[@brittdavid8591]

That was and still is a Monster track 👊🏾

[@SouthSideRalph1]

Seeing Willie Mitchell & his HI band perform on the THE BEAT show in 1966

[@jordanrioscreations]

Priceless video, some of the greatest music recorded

[@gladysvasquez2700]

Thanks for share beatiful and sweets memories It’s priceless - thank you so much Yesterday and today great remembrance’s

[@militarysingh4083]

Out of all the singers, Al Green is the best, don't get me wrong, Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, they were the best also, but. AL GREEN always gets me in the love groove. I am still upset with Marvin Gaye, how he allowed his precious life to go and Teddy Pendergrass, who left a void upon me, his accident, seeing him in the wheel chair,still trying to move his body, his hands closed, that has still left me so, so, sad, but Al Green is one guy, who stays with me, stays in my heart, still going strong, I thinks it's because he's given his life back to God. He hasn't forgotten who created him. God bless you Al.

[@moretimeneeded56]

I read something the other day about Al Green that I hadn’t heard before and I have been buying his records since 1969/70. About the time Let’s Stay Together came out he was getting out the bath and his woman friend Mary Woodson threw a pot of hot grits over him, resulting in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. She then went and killed herself by shooting herself multiple times. Some debate over how do you shoot yourself multiple times with a hand gun but that’s the conclusion police came to.

[@moretimeneeded56]

October 18 1974 Soul singer Al Green is attacked in his own bathtub There can be no question that anyone would have been shaken by the events that transpired in the Memphis, Tennessee, home of singer Al Green in the early morning hours of October 18, 1974, when an ex-girlfriend burst in on him in the bath and poured a pot of scalding-hot grits on his back before retreating to a bedroom and shooting herself dead with Green's own gun. Not everyone, however, would have processed the meaning of the incident quite the way that Green did. Believing that he had strayed from the righteous musical and spiritual course intended for him, Al Green had become a born-again Christian one year earlier. But after the attack by Mary Woodson on this day in 1974, he began a process that would eventually lead him to renounce pop superstardom and all that it stood for. Al Green, widely renowned as one of the greatest voices in soul-music history, was at the absolute height of his powers in 1974. He had seven critically and commercially successful major-label albums behind him that included such timeless hits as "Tired Of Being Alone" (1971), "Let's Stay Together" (1971) and "I'm Still In Love With You" (1972). He also, in the words of Davin Seay, who collaborated with Green on his 2000 autobiography, Take Me To The River, had a "basic animal appeal to women" that attracted many admirers, including Mary Woodson. Mary Woodson first made Green's acquaintance after leaving her husband and children behind in New Jersey and attending one of his concerts in upstate New York. On the night of the attack, Woodson had shown up unexpectedly at Green's Memphis home after he returned from a concert appearance in San Francisco. What exactly prompted her to act is unclear, but her actions not only left Al Green with severe burns that would require months of hospitalization, they also left him severely shaken emotionally and spiritually. "He likes to distance the facts of his [religious] conversion from the terrible events of that night," says Seay, "but I think the Woodson incident kind of crystallized his need to move on, to sort of shut down one part of his life and open up another.''

[@moretimeneeded56]

Here’s some more on the topic. 1974 Al Green's "Grits Incident": When a stewardess friend of Green's shows up to meet the singer, he ends up at his Memphis home with her and his companion, Mary Woodson, who is dangerously obsessed with the singer. When Green goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, Woodson bursts in and pours a pot of boiling grits on him, burning him badly before going in the next room and killing herself with his gun. Green takes these disturbing events as a sign from God and focuses his career on gospel music and preaching. Green undergoes skin grafts and spends months in recovery. He had been toeing a line between advocate for the Holy Spirit and serial philanderer for a while. Earlier in the year, he released "Take Me to the River on his album Al Green Explores Your Mind, a song about a baptism that is filled with Biblical imagery. After the incident, he is determined to spread the word of God, turning more toward gospel music with a "message to get across." In 1976, be becomes an ordained minister - the Reverend Al Green - and opens the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, Tennessee. This new direction manifests in his 1977 release The Belle Album, where devotion to God is a running theme. In 1980, he issues his first gospel album, The Lord Will Make a Way. Green is cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of Mary Woodson, who was married with four children (Green claims he didn't know this) and had a history of psychiatric problems. She left behind two suicide notes, including one proclaiming her love for Green. He says that before her death, she told him he would someday become a great preacher. Green honors her memory with a nameplate at his church.

[@kelinmemphis]

MEMPHIS TALENT BABY!!!

[@marracusevans]

Actually Ashland MS talent

[@sartainja]

Great. Thank you for sharing and posting.

[@RockWithYu]

There just something...cooler about Southern men (and I say this as a Northerner). A simple, Southern gentleman - as epitomized by Willie Mitchell - can't be topped.

[@phyllisbrowne9710]

I don't think there is anything simple about this man he has to be a very complex individual to have all the accolades he has under his belt. I think I understand your statement meaning his demeanor and mannerisms are laid back but I think he is a very interesting and complex human being .respectfully

[@jamallabarge2665]

He was not simple as much as sincere. He did not need to put on airs. His music and his hard work shout out loud.

[@RockWithYu]

@@jamallabarge2665 He can be both...

[@08CARIB]

This is fantastic!

[@zelpho3]

What a song!

[@michaelgrant1449]

Phil Rey

[@robertcobb3615]

Best record of all times!!!

[@dominiquejones3805]

Bringing the wine'os n was brilliant. When u drunk u definitely gone think about that love & vibe

[@durangos230]

This is a great backstory of a man that helped another reach stardom....then the star leaves...

[@dominiquejones3805]

Seems like Willie is thinking if they stayed 2gether at the end. Al production was never the same

[@jamallabarge2665]

Before Mr. Green left, he left diamonds and jewels.

[@MrNewktrane]

​@@jamallabarge2665Agree. And after he & Willie Mitchell musically parted, the Jolly Green Giant built his own recording studio and produced the brilliant album " Belle", which featured his playing lead guitar more.

[@kurtadams3021]

RIP my brother

[@facksvillain2296]

This is Gold!!!!

[@facksvillain2296]

@Domo Jones 😁

[@JosephHuether]

Under appreciated national treasure.

[@timbryant2259]

Fantastic! I just got a Willie Michell album.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Solid Soul

[@richardmccormick859]

Mitchell going down memory lane...

[@CarterCreativeContent]

RZA owes his entire career to this man.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Yessir, Liquid Swords, Ironman etc

[@mwmingram]

Genius.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Al always sung about love

[@jcmoney11111]

Are the wine-o 's the ones making a bit of noise at the first of "Mercy"? I always wondered what those sounds were. RZA even dropped them into the groovin sample.

[@darm.8172]

I Wonder What Happened To His Studio...And That #9 Mic??? I Would Assume Al Greene Has His Mic -Eh. Thank You To The Late Willie Mitchell, The Genius...(May You Always RIHP) Who Discovered And Brought Al Greene To The World...AMEN!!! ☺😘💚💜

[@ClarenceScottJr]

Royal Studios still stands to this day in that same South Lauderdale location in Memphis, TN. Willie’s son, “Boo” operates it currently.

[@tomriley6957]

yeah Al Green, but what about O.V.Wright (the greatest singer of all time). What about Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson & Otis Clay. What about that Rhythm Section. (Howard Grimes taught Al Jackson Jnr)

[@dominiquejones3805]

@@tomriley6957 man said Syl Johnson!!!!!!

[@dominiquejones3805]

😆 Jazz chords, gotta love the south

[@dominiquejones3805]

Its almost like Willie is sittin there think of what could of been if they Stayed Together

[@weotalks2810]

Great HISTORY, HAD NOT BEEN FOR THOSE Grits, AL GREEN STOPPED at the PEAK OF HIS R&B POP CAREER, TO SING GOSPEL, for which he earned GRAMMYS.

[@dominiquejones3805]

He also fell offstage

[@jamallabarge2665]

@@dominiquejones3805 Between the attack and falling off stage, Mr. Green decided to slow his roll.

[@dominiquejones3805]

Whose more honest than a drunk person lol

[@kincamell]

Heavy.

[@dominiquejones3805]

WU TANG sound provider and Isaac Hayes

[@mynameisirrelevant46]

I wonder if he was raised in church like Al Green because I hear a lot of organ in his music..I wish he would do gospel music since I’m a born again Christian.

[@rome1205]

Funny you say that Charles Hodges plays organ and is a minister still living

[@GeneJordache]

Respectfully.

[@esmeraldo7887]

Anyone know what this is from?

[@SuperBeachbum74]

Willie Mitchell was a creative genius ! But he rarely paid his musicians fairly, why Reggie Young left him. Reggie helped make him but never got all his money as Willie would say, “ there’s other expenses “ to all the musicians !

[@dominiquejones3805]

Wow where'd u get the info

[@joeyprather4739]

A story as old as time. Sometimes true.

[@bigcartoonyIIV]

I never knew this man was related to teenie hodges and drake

[@dominiquejones3805]

If Al and Willie stayed 2gether smh

[@Embassy97]

Al Jackson on the drums no Hip Hop with out Willie Mitchell

[@mrflynn01]

Domo Jones, this is certainly not fact, try Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown drummer.

[@dominiquejones3805]

I had no idea he had lost his brother & wife from cancer

[@debra141edwar8]

Williemitchellwifeanabarara

[@debra141edwar8]

Annabarbarmitchell! y

[@debra141edwar8]

Gy null and Mothers day t

[@michaelprince3486]

Willie looks sad, thinking about Al walking away to do gospel

[@jamallabarge2665]

I think that he's content with the beauty that he created and shared with the world. Mr. Mitchell had a fantastic team of musicians who he directed with skill and heart.

[@billclay2701]

'God' ruined Al Green and Prince. Music went downhill when they decided to focus on the make believe.

[@jamallabarge2665]

God gave Al the strength to perservere, the dignity to be true to himself. He would Witness to you if he heard what you said.

[@billclay2701]

@@jamallabarge2665 Man made God to give Al the strength to perservere, the dignity to be true to himself. Man would Witness to you if it heard what you said.

[@jamallabarge2665]

@@billclay2701 You're not good at mocking God, Bill. I think you need Jesus.

[@billclay2701]

@@jamallabarge2665 I think God needs a iphone.

[@2frmdaview]

@@billclay2701feel sorry for you once the end of time finally comes