Terry Manning began in the music industry in the early sixties in El Paso, Texas. He fronted several local bands, most notably The Wild Ones, and on occasion also played rhythm guitar with his friend Bobby Fuller's band. Bobby had a big following in El Paso at the time, and one of his local hits was "I Fought The Law," released on his own label, Eastwood Records. This, and other of his songs, was recorded in his home garage studio (on Album Avenue!) It was apparent that there was no extended future in music in El Paso, so by 1963, Terry (and Bobby) had decided to move on. (Bobby chose the West Coast, and landed in Los Angeles where "I Fought The Law" was re-cut, and became a worldwide smash. He unfortunately met an untimely death not long after, under quite mysterious circumstances.) Terry chose Memphis, where a lot of music he liked was being made. Songs like "The Dog" and "Walkin' The Dog" by Rufus Thomas, and "Last Night" by The Mar-Keys had caught his fancy.....
Terry, barely a teenager, walked boldly into Stax Records and announced that he was there to engineer, produce, write...whatever they needed! Crazily enough, they put him to work. Terry began as an assistant engineer, performing duties all the way from sweeping up the floor, to making tape copies, to running the whole show when someone who was supposed to be there didn't show up. Unlike several engineers or producers who today claim to have engineered at Stax, Terry actually worked there! He had an office in their famous building at 926 East MacLemore (now the site of the Stax Museum), in the area which had once been "Slim Jenkins' Joint." In fact, he took that office over from Isaac Hayes, when Isaac moved upstairs to fancier digs. Terry also began working at Ardent Studios in Memphis, as their first employee. Ardent was just moving from the garage of owner John Fry to its first "professional" location on National Street. Terry there engineered many of the sessions, typed the bills, solicited clients, and of course continued to play in local bands at night. Ardent quickly assumed a reputation as being on the cutting-edge of the then-new multi-track technology, and many Stax Records artists, Hi Records artists, as well as R & B, blues and rock groups from New Orleans, Muscle Shoals, Nashville, and the surrounding South, came to use their services. Terry was privileged to learn on the job with such artists and producers as Isaac Hayes, Ike & Tina Turner, Willie Mitchell, Al Bell, Jim Stewart, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Eddie Floyd, Al Green, Rufus Thomas, Sam & Dave, Billy Eckstine, Otis Redding, Tony Joe White, The Boxtops, William Bell, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers, Piano Red, Furry Lewis, Mississippi John Hurt, The Gentrys, Dan Penn, Johnny Taylor, Leon Russell, Ronnie Milsap, and many, many others. Al Bell, co-owner of Stax, soon took Terry under his wing, and made him an integral part of the production team for The Staple Singers, whose production responsibilities he had just assumed from Steve Cropper. Bell and Manning quickly teamed up for "Heavy Makes You Happy," which became the Staples' first true crossover hit. It was followed by "Respect Yourself," which was even bigger, and then "I'll Take You There," which became one of the biggest hit singles of all time. The Staple Singers, led by Mavis and Pops Staples, had many more hits under the Al Bell/Terry Manning team. Bell was the producer (as well as the author of "I'll Take You There,") and Terry was the co-producer and engineer; Manning also wrote songs for The Staples, and arranged and conducted many of the instrumental overdubs, including full orchestra. He also played many of the guitar parts, as well as harmonica, marimba, percussion, etc. One of Manning's compositions, "Heaven," first recorded by The Staple Singers, was later covered by several artists, including Silent Rain, who had a platinum European smash with the song, and the Manning-produced version by Joe Cocker, which sold over four million units. Terry also was assigned the daunting task of overseeing the live recording of the WattStax festival, held in The Los Angeles Coliseum before 105,000 people, and filmed by Wolper Productions for motion picture release by Paramount. The audio was recorded by Wally Heider Recording, with engineering liason by Manning between Heider, the various Stax artists, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Al Bell. Manning then performed the mixing at Glen Glenn Sound on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, with mammoth overdub recording at various LA studios, and oversaw the insertion of the mixed audio into the soundtrack.
As chief engineer and manager of Ardent Studios, Manning had worked with much of the area's talent, and subsequent to The Box Tops' sessions, had become friends with Alex Chilton, the group's lead singer. Terry produced a solo alum ("1970") on Chilton which fell between the cracks of the tape vault until its discovery and release in 1996! Terry teamed up with his then-best friend Chris Bell, Jody Stevens, and Tom Eubanks, to form the legendary group ROCK CITY, the progenitor to BIG STAR. The album they recorded also didn't see release until many years later, when Lucky Seven released it in 2003. So when John Fry, with Terry, started the new Ardent Records label in 1971, Alex Chilton was a natural signee with his and Chris Bell's new group, BIG STAR. Also to emerge from the label's stable was Cargoe (produced by Terry,) and in England, Manning discovered and recorded B.A. Robertson, who later went on to become a huge recording star and composer in the UK. Terry also recorded his own solo album, "Home Sweet Home," which was released on Stax's Enterprise label. He engineered, produced, and played almost all of the instruments, except drums, and several guitar parts by Chris Bell. This album has now become a "cult" classic, and is highly sought after by collectors.
When producer Peter Asher wanted Memphis horns or other musicians, he called Terry, who coordinated the project, and engineered the sessions. James Taylor was one of these artists, and the subsequent album, "Mud Slide Slim and The Blue Horizon," was another huge hit. When Leon Russell wanted to learn about the then-new technology of music synthesis, he came to Manning, who had just returned from Trumansburg, New York, where Terry had spent many long days under the tutelege of Robert Moog. Moog had just taken his new invention, the commercially viable music synthsizer, to the marketing stage, and Manning wanted to know about it. So Terry went to see Moog, and learned straight from the horse's mouth! When Leon Russell found out about this, he came to Manning, who showed Leon some of what he had learned, and then set up his Moog IIIC synth (purchased from George Harrison and Robert Moog), and he and Leon overdubbed on what became "Stranger In A Strange Land," Russell's huge early hit.
One of Terry Manning's other interests was photography. He shared this interest actively with several friends, one of whom was William Eggleston. Eggleston is widely regarded today in museum and photography circles as the greatest colour photographer of all time. Eggleston and Manning, along with other participants (including Chris Bell), pursued still photography, motion picture and video tape photography, and other related "art" forms. Manning took photographs under contract of many rock artists, both for the artists themselves, and for music newspapers such as The New Musical Express of London, for whom Manning was a writer and photographer. Terry photographed the likes of Chuck Berry, Procol Harum, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and many other artists of the period. His photograph of Terry Reid became the cover of Reid's second album (the sepia-toned picture of Reid with Gibson guitar and fringe jacket,) and won several awards for album cover art. Manning was one of the last photographers to photograph his acquaintance, Dr. Martin Luther King, on the day before the assassination.
Meanwhile, Manning, in addition to production, engineering and other duties, was still performing with Memphis groups, The Goat Dancers and Lawson and Four More. This latter group had a medium sized regional hit, and became an opening act on The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars Tour in the Mid-South. On this tour, Manning had the opportunity to meet one of his favourite contemporary groups, The Yardbirds. When they came back to tour the US again, Manning renewed the contact, and became close friends with Jimmy Page, then bass/rhythm guitar player for The 'Birds. During the tour, Jeff Beck abruptly quit over artistic differences, and Page assumed lead guitar duties. Manning was priveleged to add guitar instruction from Page to that he had already received from Teenie Hodges (Al Green) and Steve Cropper (Booker T, & The MG's). Manning and Page toyed with the idea of forming a new and different sounding group, along with other musicians they both knew; Terry didn't want to leave the musical situation he was in at that time, so he opted out. However, when Page changed the name of his next group from "The New Yardbirds" to "Led Zeppelin," he had kept in contact with Terry, and when there was a need for engineering, Jimmy called Terry in to engineer for "Led Zeppelin III." This album, which Manning carried all the way to the final mastering stage (where he wrote the famous Crowley inscriptions into the lead-out groove by hand), became the number one album in the world.
Out there in that world somewhere, listening to this "new" heavier sound was, amongst many others, Billy Gibbons, who had recently formed a new group, "ZZ Top," after disbanding his earlier "Moving Sidewalks." Gibbons had formed an alliance with a new manager, Bill Ham, who had recently been working for a record distributorship, while also selling insurance from his car. (Ham had originally been an artist himself, produced by none other then Pat Boone!) Gibbons wanted his band's sound to "get heavier," more like the Zeppelin sound, so he sought out Manning, talked Ham into trekking to Memphis, and thus began a triumvirate which was to last for many years! Manning, under Ham's guidance, completed the partially recorded "Tres Hombres" album, mixed it, and the London Records release quickly became the group's first big sales breakthrough. The three worked hand in hand on ZZ for over 18 years, spewing out such classic albums as "Fandango," "Tejas," "Deguello," "Eliminator," and "Recycler," and such great singles as "La Grange," "Tush," "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs," and many others. When sales had dipped a bit in 1982, Gibbons asked Manning if there weren't some way to upgrade the rhythmic capability of the sound; Manning responded by interjecting the new computer-based instrumentational technology into a rock group record for the first time. The resulting "Eliminator," with its powerful new sound, responded by becoming number one in the world, remaining high on the Billboard album chart for well over 90 weeks, and selling in excess of 15 million units worldwide! The success of this album led many other artists to Terry Manning, who quickly expanded his production base. Because of these many committments, Manning was unable to accept the assignment of working on the next ZZ album, but he returned for the "Recycler" album. At this point, Manning felt that the long relationship had grown a bit counter-productive, and amicably left the "triumvirate" to pursue his other production and engineering interests.
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