Musician and producer Jim Dickinson died, aged 67, from heart failure on Saturday.
Born in 1941 and moving with his family to Memphis in 1948, Dickinson originally hoped to work in theatre, but switched to music after he was hired to sing on the Bill Justis Orchestra album, 'Dixieland Folk Style'. Although the album was a success, follow-up singles were less so, but he became a prolific session musician for Sam Phillip's Sun Records. In 1969, he played on sessions recorded by The Rolling Stones when they stopped off in Memphis during a US tour. The recordings became the band's 1971 album, 'Sticky Fingers', and Dickinson's role, particularly the piano solo on 'Wild Horses', was prominent.
After this, he joined Atlantic's Miami studio house band The Dixie Flyers. Although primarily a backing band for artists passing through, including Aretha Franklin, they began work on an album of their own. When guitarist Charlie Freeman's drug addiction caused them to split before the album was completed, Dickinson took the tapes back to Memphis and finished it as a solo album, 'Dixie Fried'.
Soon after he was hired to produce Ry Cooder's album, 'Into The Valley', beginning a long relationship which saw Dickinson produce many of Cooder's film soundtracks and join his live band, and kicking off his production career.
Over nearly 40 years, Dickinson produced albums for a huge range of artists, including Bob Dylan, Primal Scream, Big Star, Spiritualized, The Replacements, Toots And The Maytals, and Mudhoney. He also recorded several solo albums and occasionally performed with other Memphis bands.
He is survived by his wife and two sons.