Willie Mitchell

Willie Mitchell first earned widespread recognition for signing Al Green to Hi Records and producing the vocalist’s biggest successes, yet he had already built his own recording career throughout the mid-1960s prior to their introduction. Born March 1, 1928, in Ashland, Mississippi, Mitchell grew up in Memphis, where he began formal music and arranging studies at a young age, took up the trumpet at eight, trained with pianist Ozie Horn, and absorbed further influences from Roy Eldridge and Harry James. After his discharge from the Army in 1954, he returned to Memphis and established himself as a sought-after local trumpet-playing bandleader whose big band Elvis Presley booked for several private parties.

By 1959 Mitchell had concentrated on studio work and joined Hi Records, where he is widely credited with originating the label’s signature sound of churning organ fills, sturdy horn arrangements, and steady 4/4 drumming. Throughout the 1960s he became a frequent concert draw on U.S. college campuses and notched several moderately successful soul and dance singles; he issued a steady stream of solo albums on Hi that included Sunrise Serenade, It's Dance Time, It's What's Happenin', Hit Sound of Willie Mitchell, Ooh Baby, You Turn Me On, Willie Mitchell Live at the Royal, Solid Soul, On Top, and Willie Mitchell's Driving Beat, the last of which Fat Possum Records reissued in 2017.

When Hi Records founder Joe Cuoghi died in 1970, Mitchell assumed control of the label. The transition proved smooth, for he had already signed an up-and-coming soul singer named Al Green the year before. Under Mitchell’s guidance Green quickly rose to become one of the decade’s leading soul artists; Mitchell co-produced and engineered every Green album from 1970 through 1976, along with such classic Top Ten singles as “Tired of Being Alone,” “Call Me (Come Back Home),” “I'm Still in Love with You,” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me),” “Let's Stay Together,” “You Ought to Be with Me,” “Look at What You Done for Me,” “Let's Get Married,” and others.

In addition to his work with Green, Mitchell continued releasing his own recordings, among them Soul Bag, Robbins' Nest, Hold It, Listen Dance, Many Moods of Willie Mitchell, and Willie Mitchell Live, while also producing albums for Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson. He maintained a schedule of occasional solo projects yet kept producing sessions for Otis Clay, Jimmy King, Preston Shannon, and O.V. Wright, among others. Several compilations appeared in the late 1990s, including 1998’s Hi Masters and 1999’s Soul Serenade: The Best of Willie Mitchell, followed in the early 2000s by the double-disc anthology Poppa Willie: The Hi Years, 1962-1974 and the two-for-one CD sets It's What's Happenin'/The Hit Sound of Willie Mitchell and Soul Serenade/Willie Mitchell Live. Mitchell also owned and operated the Royal Recording Studio in Memphis. He died in Memphis on January 5, 2010.