Albert Leornes Greene was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, on April 13, 1946. The sixth of ten children born to sharecropper Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene, Jr., Al began performing with his sister in a trio named the Greene Brothers when he was about ten years old.
In the late 1950s, the Greene family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. When Al was in his teens, his devoutly religious father found him listening to Jackie Wilson and booted him out of the family home. He then began hustling, lived with a prostitute, and experimented with recreational drugs.
Al Greene & the Creations was a vocal group he established in high school. Curtis Rodgers and Palmer James, two of the group’s members, founded the indie label Hot Line Music Journal.
After changing their name to Al Greene & the Soul Mates, they recorded “Back Up Train” in 1968 and released it on Hot Line Music. The song was an R&B chart success, peaking at No. 46 on the Cashbox Top 100.
However, the group’s following follow-ups, as well as their debut album Back Up Train, did not chart. While singing with the Soul Mates, Green met Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell, who engaged him as a vocalist for a Texas gig with Mitchell’s band in 1969.
Mitchell approached Green after the event and encouraged him to sign with his Hi Records company.
How did Al Green get burned?
Green’s lover, Mary Woodson, assaulted him and then committed suicide at his Memphis home on October 18, 1974.
Despite the fact that she was already married with three children, Woodson was outraged when Green declined to marry her.
She sprayed him with boiling grits in the bathroom as he was getting ready for bed, causing second-degree burns on his back, stomach, and arms that required skin grafts. Woodson tragically shot himself with his.38 handgun shortly after.
Police discovered an apparent suicide note inside Woodson’s purse, stating her intents and motivations.
