Chips Moman

Born in Georgia, Moman moved to Memphis, Tennessee as a teenager and began his career playing in the road band of Warren Smith. He moved to Los Angeles around 1957 with Johnny Burnette's band and then toured with Gene Vincent. While in Los Angeles, he played guitar on sessions recorded at the Gold Star Studios.

Returning to Memphis, he began producing for Satellite (2) Records (which became Satellite (2)), producing the labels first hit single, Carla Thomas's 1960 Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes). Moman left Stax in 1964, after a dispute over money and started his own studio, Satellite (2), also in Memphis with fellow session men Reggie Young, Bobby Womack, Tommy Cogbill, Bobby Emmons and Gene Chrisman. The studio and the session team played an important role in the recordings of such artists as Wilson Pickett and Joe Tex during the 1960's. Moman produced notable albums such as Elvis Presley's From Elvis In Memphis, and also wrote or co-wrote such classics as "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "The Dark End of the Street, "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"; often co-writing with Dan Penn.

During the late 1960's and early 1970's, Moman's studio had more than 120 charting singles by pop, soul, and country artists. At times during this period, more than 20 of Billboard's Hot 100 songs were produced at American Sound.
See also the label Satellite (2).