Donnie Fritts born November 8, 1942

Donald Ray Fritts (November 8, 1942 – August 27, 2019) was an American session musician and songwriter. A recording artist in his own right, he was Kris Kristofferson's keyboardist for over forty years. In 2008, he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

Donald Ray Fritts was born in Florence, Alabama, the younger of two sons of Huey and Helen (Brown) Fritts. His father was a building contractor who played guitar and bass in a local swing band on weekends. His mother was a homemaker. He began playing drums in local bands such as The Satellites and Hollis Dixon & the Keynotes at age 15, before graduating to the Mark Vs and the Pallbearers, two formative groups led by his future co-writer, Mr. Penn. 

He switched from drums to piano when he decided to try his hand at songwriting. He later developed into a session keyboard player. Working closely with Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill, Dan Penn, Arthur Alexander, David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan and Norbert Putnam, Fritts was involved in many of the early songs and recordings created in the Muscle Shoals music industry.

Kristofferson & Fritts

In 1965, Fritts signed with a Nashville publishing company. Songs which he wrote were recorded by Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis. He later met Kris Kristofferson who was just beginning a career in songwriting. When forming his band, Kristofferson called on Fritts, who continued as his keyboard player for over twenty years, performing live, on recordings and allowing him to experience every musicians dream by playing at Carnegie Hall. 

Through his association with Kristofferson, Fritts appeared in over fifteen movies during his acting career, including three of Sam Peckinpah's movies: Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Convoy. A colourful character onscreen and off, Mr. Fritts appeared alongside Mr. Kristofferson in Frank Pierson’s 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born.” He also played keyboards on the movie’s theme song, “Evergreen,” written by Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams, which won an Academy Award for best original song and a Grammy for song of the year. He also appeared in the aptly named film "Songwriter".

Because of his acting career, Donnie was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Thus, every year when Oscar nominations rolled around, the Academy sent screeners of all the nominated files to his home in Alabama. Possessed of a rough-hewed voice akin to Mr. Kristofferson’s, Fritts was a late bloomer as a recording artist. He released only a handful of albums, and he did not release the first — “Prone to Lean,” a mix of humorous and tender-hearted originals produced by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio until 1974. 

                                   

That album derived its title from “the Alabama Leaning Man,” an enigmatic nickname conferred on Fritts by Jerry Wexler. In the liner notes, Mr. Kristofferson chose a more decipherable and apposite sobriquet to describe his friend’s approach to writing and playing music: “Funky Donnie Fritts.” His second album, "Everybody's Got a Song" was released in 1998. It included guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Waylon Jennings, Delbert McClinton, Tony Joe White, Leroy Parnell & John Prine.

In 2001, Fritts had a kidney transplant that closely followed seven heart operations. While he was recovering in the hospital after the transplant, a friend asked how he was doing. Fritts responded that he had "one foot in the groove." It became the title of his third album in 2008, produced by Dan Penn with Ron Laury, recorded at Dandy Studio in Nashville. On February 22, 2008, Kristofferson was on hand in Montgomery, Alabma to induct Donnie into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Fritts focused on session and touring work with his backing band the Decoys supported him during a two-week tour of Japan in 2009. His most recent on-screen role was in the 2012 film Jayne Mansfield’s Car, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

In 2015, he signed with Single Lock Records and released his fourth album "Oh My Goodness" which some critics sat was his masterpiece.Stripped down to the bare essentials of Fritts’ weathered vocals and his Wurlitzer electric piano, this masterful record showcased an artist who had survived with his soul, grace, and humour intact. In 2018, his last album "June (A Tribute to Arthur Alexander)" was released. It was a moving and deeply personal tribute to his long-time best friend Arthur Alexander, the soul singer and songwriter of tunes covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, among countless others.

After a long illness, Fritts died from complications of heart surgery on August 27, 2019, at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 76.

(Edited from Wikipedia, New York Times, Bitter Southerner, Sigle Lock Records & AllMusic)