Al Green Biography, Songs
Why Al Green matters? Because his voice, his songs and his history shaped the sound and sensibility of modern soul music and conserved its fire for generations.
Albert Leornes Greene, better known to the world as Al Green, was born April 13, 1946, in Forrest City, Arkansas, and grown up in a large family as one of ten children to Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene Jr.
The family emigrated to Grand Rapids in Michigan later on, and a music-filled household and the gospel tradition formed a template for his later years.
As a teenager he sang in neighborhood outfits and formed Al Greene and the Creations with his high school friends.
He was entranced by the power of great voices and records he heard on the radio and that curiosity drew him to rhythm and blues even when at odds with his father’s stern ideology. School for Green were as rehearsals rooms and neighborhood stages as classroom and those early years proved his real schooling in performance, harmony, and feel.
In 1966 he recorded Back Up Train with the Soul Mates, a regional hit that spawned tours and opened doors. The watershed was 1969 when Memphis bandleader and producer Willie Mitchell heard the rough gold in Green’s voice and signed him to Hi Records.
The instruction was to lay off competing with other voices and just trust his light touch, his velvet-falsetto and his conversational inflections. The result was a streak that epitomized Memphis soul: Tired of Being Aloneannounced his arrival, and then his signature-setting Let’s Stay Together sent him to the stars when he topped the pop and R and B charts in 1972.
Those albums that followed,I’m Still in Love with You and Call Me defied a balance between tenderness and bottom, and quiet fire and those tracks such as Love and Happiness, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Here I Am Come and Take Me, and Take Me to the River signaled a breadth of his emotional range. Stardom did little to save him from suffering.
The traumatic accident at his Memphis home in 1974 and a dangerous fall on stage in 1979 both directed him towards increased introspection. He founded the Full Gospel Tabernacle church in Memphis, was ordained as a pastor, and across the 1980s committed himself to gospel recordings that took several Grammys and acclaim from every possible direction within American music. Though he headed a congregation, he nonetheless kept an open line to a greater universe. He returned to the secular charts with duets such as Put a Little Love in Your Heart along with Annie Lennox in 1988 and later re-associated with Mitchell to create I Can’t Stop and Everything’s OK in the 2000s.
Lay It Down in 2008, conceived with Ahmir Questlove Thompson and James Poyser, linked him to a younger generation and charted on the albums again, a testament that time merely boosted his appeal.
Throughout his career he collected eleven Grammy awards that include a Lifetime Achievement Award, appeared on best artists and greatest vocalists lists ever, and in 1995 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His life has pages of private suffering and public forgiveness as well, yet the constant is that voice, a gentle instrument that may whisper comfort or muscle a band with consummate authority.
Today he is celebrated as a foundational Memphis soul singer who with his work with Willie Mitchell and the Hi Rhythm Section produced classics that fill wedding receptions, mixtapes, and movie soundtracks and he is a pastor who appreciates the interrelation between that which is religious and that which is secular.
Name, source, family, self-taught education through church and stage, a career that began within neighborhood units and escalated worldwide awareness, notable achievements that include revolutionary singles and American culture’s ultimate awards, and memorable personal anecdotes that redirected his trajectory are found within a history that explains why Al Green music survives as a hand on your shoulder and a promise that love survives.
Contents
Al Green Top songs
- Let’s Stay Together
The signature love pledge that topped the Hot 100 and R and B charts in 1972 and set the standard for smooth soul. - Tired of Being Alone
A breakthrough single with patient groove and longing that announced a singular new voice in 1971. - Love and Happiness
A churchy vamp, a slow burn, and a life lesson about joy and struggle wrapped in one performance. - I’m Still in Love with You
Silken vocals and a steady rhythm section make devotion sound effortless and pure. - Call Me Come Back Home
A warm invitation sung with poise and restraint that landed in the pop top ten in 1973. - Here I Am Come and Take Me
A confident step to the dance floor with plush horns and easy charisma. - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
He reimagines a Bee Gees ballad into a soul meditation full of breath and space. - Take Me to the River
A baptism of groove that merges sacred feeling with secular release. - Sha La La Makes Me Happy
A bright, buoyant hook and classic Hi Records production shine on mid seventies radio. - L O V E Love
A hand clapping, organ laced declaration that spells out his mission with style. - Simply Beautiful
Minimal guitar and voice that prove quiet can move mountains. - Put a Little Love in Your Heart with Annie Lennox
A joyful late eighties duet that returned him to pop radio and a new audience.
Al Green Discography
- Back Up Train 1967
- Green Is Blues 1969
- Al Green 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
- Al Green Explores Your Mind 1974
- Al Green Is Love 1975
- Full of Fire 1976
- Have a Good Time 1976
- The Belle Album 1977
- Truth n’ Time 1978
- The Lord Will Make a Way 1980
- Higher Plane 1981
- Precious Lord 1982
- I’ll Rise Again 1983
- White Christmas 1983
- Trust in God 1984
- He Is the Light 1985
- Soul Survivor 1987
- I Get Joy 1989
- Love Is Reality 1992
- Don’t Look Back 1993
- Your Heart’s in Good Hands 1995
- Feels Like Christmas 2001
- I Can’t Stop 2003
- Everything’s OK 2005
- Lay It Down 2008
Al Green Top albums
Let’s Stay Together 1972
The defining statement where the title track, a timeless number one, anchors a set of supple, horn kissed soul.
I’m Still in Love with You 1972
A gorgeous continuation of the sound with confident writing and chart power across singles.
Call Me 1973
Songcraft at a peak, balancing slow reflections and mid tempo grooves with radio friendly polish.
Al Green Explores Your Mind 1974
Home to Love and Happiness and Simply Beautiful, it shows his gift for intimacy and drive.
The Belle Album 1977
A personal pivot that pairs spiritual searching with leaner arrangements and heartfelt writing.
I Can’t Stop 2003
A triumphant reunion with Willie Mitchell that recaptures Hi Records warmth for a new era.
Everything’s OK 2005
Late career ease with rich arrangements and seasoned confidence.
Lay It Down 2008
A modern classic produced with The Roots camp, featuring tasteful duets and renewed chart success.
Al Green Singles with US Charts
| Year | Title | US Hot 100 | US R&B | US A/C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Back Up Train | 41 | 5 | — |
| 1968 | Don’t Hurt Me No More | 127 | — | — |
| 1968 | A Lover’s Hideaway | — | — | — |
| 1969 | Want to Hold Your Hand | — | — | — |
| 1969 | One Woman | — | — | — |
| 1970 | You Say It | — | 28 | — |
| 1970 | Right Now, Right Now | — | 23 | — |
| 1970 | I Can’t Get Next to You | 60 | 11 | — |
| 1971 | Driving Wheel | 115 | 46 | — |
| 1971 | Tired of Being Alone | 11 | 7 | — |
| 1971 | Let’s Stay Together | 1 | 1 | 36 |
| 1972 | Look What You Done for Me | 4 | 2 | — |
| 1972 | I’m Still in Love with You | 3 | 1 | 33 |
| 1972 | Guilty | 69 | 29 | — |
| 1972 | You Ought to Be with Me | 3 | 1 | 28 |
| 1973 | Hot Wire | 71 | — | — |
| 1973 | Call Me (Come Back Home) | 10 | 2 | — |
| 1973 | Here I Am (Come and Take Me) | 10 | 2 | — |
| 1973 | Livin’ for You | 19 | 1 | — |
| 1974 | Let’s Get Married | 32 | 3 | — |
| 1974 | Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy) | 7 | 2 | 28 |
| 1975 | L-O-V-E (Love) | 13 | 1 | — |
| 1975 | Oh Me, Oh My (Dreams in My Arms) | 48 | 7 | — |
| 1975 | Full of Fire | 28 | 1 | — |
| 1976 | Let It Shine | — | 16 | — |
| 1976 | Keep Me Cryin’ | 37 | 4 | — |
| 1977 | I Tried to Tell Myself | 101 | 26 | — |
| 1977 | Love and Happiness | 104 | 92 | — |
| 1977 | Belle | 83 | 9 | — |
| 1978 | I Feel Good | 103 | 36 | — |
| 1979 | To Sir, with Love | — | 71 | — |
| 1979 | Wait Here | — | 58 | — |
| 1985 | Never Met Nobody Like You (UK only) | — | — | — |
| 1985 | Going Away | — | — | — |
| 1985 | True Love | — | — | — |
| 1987 | Everything’s Gonna Be Alright | — | 22 | — |
| 1987 | You Know and I Know | — | — | — |
| 1987 | Soul Survivor | — | — | — |
| 1988 | Put a Little Love in Your Heart (with Annie Lennox) | 9 | — | 2 |
| 1989 | As Long as We’re Together | — | 15 | — |
| 1989 | The Message Is Love (with Arthur Baker) | — | 84 | — |
| 1991 | Leave the Guns at Home (with Arthur Baker) | — | 69 | — |
| 1992 | Love Is Reality (US promo) | — | 55 | — |
| 1993 | Love Is a Beautiful Thing | — | 34 | — |
| 1994 | Waiting On You | — | 81 | — |
| 1994 | Keep On Pushing Love | — | — | — |
| 1994 | Funny How Time Slips Away (with Lyle Lovett) | — | — | — |
| 1995 | Your Heart’s in Good Hands (US promo) | — | 47 | — |
| 2003 | Put It on Paper (with Ann Nesby) | — | 44 | — |
| 2003 | Love Iz (with Erick Sermon) | — | 80 | — |
| 2003 | I Can’t Stop | — | 97 | — |
| 2005 | Perfect to Me | — | 115 | — |
| 2008 | Stay with Me (By the Sea) (with John Legend) | — | 49 | — |
| 2008 | Lay It Down | — | 111 | — |
| 2008 | Take Your Time (with Corinne Bailey Rae) | — | 122 | — |
| 2018 | Before the Next Teardrop Falls | — | — | — |
| 2023 | Perfect Day | — | — | — |
Awards
- Won 11 Grammy Awards from 21 nominations, including multiple gospel-category wins and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (1995)
- Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee (2004)
- Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee (2004)
- Honored as a BMI Icon (2004)
- Received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award (2009)
- Awarded Kennedy Center Honors (2014)
- Praised by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest artists and placed among the top singers of all time, underscoring his lasting impact on American soul music