Dan Penn

about

Wallace Daniel Pennington (16 November 1941 -) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" & "Do Right Woman" (with Chips Moman) and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby" (with Spooner Oldham). Penn has also produced hits such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops, amongst others. Though he is considered to be one of the great white soul singers, Penn has a meagre recorded output, preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting & producing. Penn grew up in Vernon, Alabama and spent much his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios as a performer, songwriter and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty in the same year. The success of "I'm Your Puppet," a #6 pop hit for James & Bobby Purify, convinced him that songwriting was a worthwhile (and lucrative) career choice. In early 1966, Penn moved to Memphis, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr and has been recorded by many others since, notably

top songs

albums

Nobody's Fool

Do Right Man

Living on Mercy

The Fame Recordings

Close To Me: More Fame Recordings

The Sound Of The City - Memphis (Disc 1)

Moments from This Theatre (Live)

Moments From This Theater: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham: LIVE

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Rockin' Originals: Original Versions Of Famous Songs

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Delta Swamp Rock Sounds From The South: At The Crossroad of Rock, Country and Soul

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The Fame Studios Story 1961-1973

Adios Amigo: A Tribute To Arthur Alexander

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