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Spooner Oldham

SPOONER OLDHAM

YEAR

2009

INDUCTED BY

Paul Shaffer

CATEGORY

Musical Excellence

Spooner Oldham shaped Southern soul with his formidable talent.

A songwriter, producer and session keyboardist, Oldham made his mark on such classics as “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Mustang Sally” and “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You).”

Spooner Oldham

Spooner Oldham

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Andy Schwartz

The guy who played organ on Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” in 1966 and on the Box Tops’ “Cry Like a Baby” in 1968.

The guy who played piano on Linda Ronstadt’s breakthrough album, Don’t Cry Now, in 1973. The guy who played keyboards on both the 1967 Aretha Franklin album I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and the 2008 Drive-By Truckers album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.

The guy who played with Bob Dylan and Neil Young, with Aaron Neville and Bettye LáVette, with Frank Black and Gat Power.

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Class of 2009
sometimes silence is more powerful than the sound.
Paul Shaffer
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