Songwriter had hit with Mustang Sally
Stax Records success included song Respect Yourself, for Staples Singers
Mack Rice, the composer of the 1960s hit Mustang Sally and co-writer of the Staple Singers landmark Respect Yourself, has died in Detroit. He was 82.
Laura Rice said her husband died at their home on Monday of complications from Alzheimer’ s disease.
“Sir” Mack Rice was best known for writing Mustang Sally, which he initially recorded but singer Wilson Pickett popularized. They had been in a group together called the Falcons, which recorded in Detroit.
“When he wrote Mustang Sally and he saw that royalty cheque, he started writing,” Laura Rice said. “He never thought Mustang Sally would ever be as big as it became. … He used to tell me, ‘Honey, that Mustang has rolled a long time.’”
Rice was a songwriter for Memphis, Tenn.-based Stax Records and split his time between there and Detroit, where he had moved from Mississippi as a teen.
He was born Bonny Rice on Nov. 10, 1933, in Clarksdale, Miss.
He wrote Respect Yourself with late R&B singer-songwriter Luther Ingram for the Staple Singers, which became Stax’s biggest hit. His wife said he wrote it in about 15 minutes after talking with other musicians in the studio about the need for people to respect themselves in order to be respected by others.
Laura Rice and singer Pat Lewis, a longtime friend and collaborator, say he was kind, humble and embodied his other, Memphis-given nickname, “Gentleman.”
Lewis, a fellow Detroit resident who went to Stax with Mack Rice in the 1960s and remained close with him until his death, said he was a “gentle soul” who was loved by all — including ex-bandmates. She said he remained friends with Pickett, who died in 2006, and the other Falcons.
“Pickett called (Rice) and said, ‘You oughtta let me do Mustang Sally.” recalled Lewis, who also sang backup for Aretha Franklin and Isaac Hayes. “Mack said, ‘You wanna do it? You got that.’ It wasn’t a hit (for) Mack, but Pickett, wow, he just blew it out of the park.”
In his later years, Rice ran an asphalt company in Detroit and continued writing and performing. Despite his failing health and mind at the end of his life, Lewis said music remained at his core.