July 24, 2010

Forrest City (St. Francis County) native Al Green was one of the top R&B, pop, and rock stars of the 1970s. From 1971 to 1974, he scored twelve top-ten hits, with “Let’s Stay Together” reaching number one. A girlfriend’s suicide and a 1979 fall from a stage while performing, which Green believed was a message from God, led to his becoming a minister and turning to gospel music. Green has won eight Grammy Awards as a gospel musician. As a 1995 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he again began releasing secular music. He serves as pastor of his Memphis, Tennessee, church, the First Gospel Tabernacle, and performs around the country.