Quin Ivy was born in Oxford, Mississppi, in 1937. Like Rick Hall, he grew up in a share-cropping family. He took a job as a DJ on a local radio station, before moving to Memphis to join 1210 WMPS-AM. In 1959 he moved again, this time to Muscle Shoals, to DJ on WLAY-AM.
Rick Hall had just started working with Billy Sherrill and Tom Stafford at the little studio above the drugstore. One of his many promotional visits involved a stop at WLAY-AM, the station where Sam Phillips had worked and where now he met Quin Ivy.
Ivy soon moved on again, this time to WKDA-AM in Nashville, where he continued to receive visits from Hall. That experience served him well, as he was offered the job of top DJ back at WLAY-AM in 1961. The station had a policy of allowing the DJs to play a mix of music, with the intention of attracting Black and White listeners. Black music was what Ivy liked to play most.
Given their similar backgrounds and their love of R&B music, it is not surprising that Ivy and Hall became friends. They started writing songs together, including two that were recorded at FAME by Jimmy Hughes: “I’m Qualified” and “Lollypops, Lace & Lipstick”, the B-side of the hit single “Steal Away”. Ivy also decided to open a record store in Sheffield on 2nd Street, which he called Tune Town.
Ivy watched Hall building his new FAME Studios and saw how the work slowly built up. He realized that, as more artists came to record there, so there was less need to fill the studio time with demo sessions, radio commercials and the like. By 1965 Hall was turning such work away, and Ivy saw an opportunity. He asked Hall if he would mind if he (Ivy) opened a small studio, a bit like the old SPAR studio, near the record shop, to pick up some of the work that Hall could no longer fit in. Hall was happy with the idea.
Ivy duly opened his studio at a venue opposite his record store in 1965, calling it Norala Studio, short for Northern Alabama. He was able to buy an old RCA mono console from WLAY-AM for $150, adding an old Ampex 351 recorder and two old speakers.
He persuaded Hall to allow the FAME session musicians to come to Norala to play and tried to recruit Dan Penn too, as A&R man/engineer. Hall agreed that the musicians would be free to play at Norala, but he relied heavily on Penn and that request was turned down. Instead, Hall recommended Marlin Green for the role.
Marlin Greene was a talented musician who played trumpet and guitar. He had played with Dan Penn on occasions, in the Mark V and the Pallbearers, sitting in for Terry Thompson. Now he became Quin Ivy’s right-hand-man, playing guitar, engineering, arranging and even designing the studio’s logo.
It wasn’t long before Ivy set up his own Norala label, on which the first single issued was a double A-sider by the Mosriters, featuring two instrumental tracks called “On the Run” and “Turmoil”. The tracks were written by Don Srygley and Jimmy Johnson, who, along with David Hood and Roger Hawkins, were the four Mosriters. (Mosrite was the name of a Californian guitar company. The Ventures used Mosrite guitars on their hit instrumentals).
The second Norala single was another instrumental double-sider by the Mosriters, while the third was a vocal track by a young singer/songwriter from Muscle Shoals called Mickey Buckins. His song “Silly Girl” did not sell many copies, but he later joined FAME and went on to greater things.
Ivy was happy no doubt. He had his record store, his recording studio and his record label. He had access to some excellent session musicians and a very talented engineer. Now he just needed a talented singer.
In the summer of 1965, a band called the Esquires came to the studio. Their lead singer was Percy Sledge.
