Originally from Vernon, Alabama,
Penn began his career as a performer, leading several white
R&B bands around the Muscle Shoals area. Achieving early success by selling a hit song to
Conway Twitty ("Is a Bluebird Blue?"), the songwriter eventually moved to Memphis, joining producer Chips Moman at his American Studios.
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Originally from Vernon, Alabama,
Penn began his career as a performer, leading several white
R&B bands around the Muscle Shoals area.
Achieving early success by selling a hit song to
Conway Twitty ("Is a Bluebird Blue?"), the songwriter eventually moved to Memphis, joining producer Chips Moman at his American Studios. Together the two, along with
Penn's writing partner, organist Spooner Oldham, wrote and/or produced several hits for
the Box Tops, such as "The Letter" and "Cry Like a Baby," throughout the late '60s.
Penn eventually returned to Muscle Shoals during the period when Atlantic Records vice president Jerry Wexler was bringing acts like
Aretha Franklin and
Solomon Burke down from New York to record there. This led to
Franklin cutting the
Penn/Oldham composition "Do Right Woman," and for the next several years,
Penn compositions such as "Dark End of the Street," "Woman Left Lonely" and "I'm Your Puppet" became
soul classics and were recorded by such greats as
James Carr,
Janis Joplin and
Dionne Warwick, respectively.
Never really considered a performer, in 1994
Penn released the long awaited follow up to his 1973 solo album Nobody's Fool. This album contains
Penn performances of songs that others are known for such as "I'm Your Puppet," as well as new material. Moments from This Theater followed in 1999. ~ Steve Kurutz, All Music Guide
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