Latest Release
- AUG 21, 2023
- 1 Song
- Let's Stay Together · 1972
- Greatest Hits · 1972
- I'm Still In Love with You · 1972
- Greatest Hits · 1971
- Let's Stay Together · 1972
- I'm Still In Love with You · 1972
- I'm Still In Love with You · 1972
- Greatest Hits · 1972
- Call Me · 1973
- Call Me · 1973
Essential Albums
- 1973
- 1972
- Otis Redding’s death left a huge personality void in Memphis soul. It took a couple of years for Al Green to signal his ability and intention to fill it, but his 1970 Gets Next to You already presents an artist with most of his gifts and idiosyncrasies in place. The album opens with a slowed-down version of the Temptations’ recent frenetic hit “I Can’t Get Next to You” that allows plenty of room for a distracted lovesickness to rule, while “Tired of Being Alone” looks toward the mellow breakthrough of “Let’s Stay Together.” Green also hits hard on rockers—“Driving Wheel,” the funny “I’m a Ram”—and offers the reassuring gospel message of “God Is Standing By.” GetsNext to You is a stellar statement of direction and intent.
- 2021
- 1992
- 1987
- 1985
- 1984
- 1983
- 1983
Music Videos
Artist Playlists
- Trace the journey of a true soul legend from Muscle Shoals to the pulpit.
- Candles lit. Bubbly on ice. Now set the mood with Al Green at his most romantic.
- Musicians from across the spectrum have been inspired by Al Green's seductive voice.
- Raw soul and rollicking funk help form his timeless sound.
- Vocal dexterity and lithe grooves unite his whole catalog.
- There's just no way to take the soul out of this icon’s songwriting.
Singles & EPs
- 2023
Live Albums
- 1981
Appears On
- The Canton Spirituals
More To Hear
- DJ Spinna celebrates Al Green with hip-hop and R&B sample tracks.
- Estelle sits with Al Green to honor the soul legend.
- Estelle talks to Al Green on the 50th anniversary of his album.
About Al Green
In the '70s, singer Al Green transformed soul music, dispensing with machismo in favor of seductiveness, his creamy, silken croon spiked with church-like interjections, a deep sexuality lurking beneath a hushed vulnerability. Born in Arkansas in 1946, Green moved with his family to Michigan, where at age 10 he started singing with his brothers. He later formed a vocal group of his own; after his first couple of singles failed to connect, in 1969 he hooked up with Memphis producer Willie Mitchell, who signed him to Hi Records and began helping Green develop his own musical identity. Mitchell and his killer house band gave the singer a unique sound: lean grooves meticulously accented with lush strings, fat snare, and horn punctuations that lag ever so slightly behind the beat. Green was given generous space to play with phrasing like it was putty. Beginning with his second album for the label, Al Green Gets Next to You, he released a string of hits, including “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still in Love with You,” that have remained cultural markers and synonyms for intimacy decades later. By the mid-'70s, Green’s personal life had led him toward religion, and in 1976 he established the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis. He continued to record secular music until 1979, at which point he dedicated himself fully to gospel, as Reverend Al Green. Starting in the late ’80s, he sporadically returned to the soul world, and in the 2000s he made a series of albums for Blue Note, including a reunion with Mitchell and another album made with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. He returned to the road in 2019, for the first time in seven years, carrying on a tradition of allowing audiences to sing the words to tunes that have become common currency.
- HOMETOWN
- Forrest City, AR, United States
- BORN
- April 13, 1946
- GENRE
- R&B/Soul