Music
Mack Rice
1933–2016 · songwriter, singer
Detroit singer-songwriter of the Falcons who wrote "Mustang Sally" and co-wrote "Respect Yourself", and whose songs include "Cadillac Assembly Line".
- Born
Clarksdale, Mississippi- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 82- Birth name
- Bonny Rice
- Also known as
- Sir Mack Rice
- Detroit years
- 1950–2016
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rice's family moved from Mississippi to Detroit in 1950, and he started in the city's R&B scene with the Five Scalders in 1956. From 1957 to 1963 he sang with the Falcons alongside Eddie Floyd, Joe Stubbs and Wilson Pickett. As a solo singer he reached the R&B Top 20 in 1965 with his own "Mustang Sally", which Pickett turned into a major hit the next year, and later charted with "Coal Man" (1969). His greater success came as a songwriter, largely for Stax: with Luther Ingram he wrote "Respect Yourself" for the Staple Singers, and his catalog includes "Cheaper to Keep Her", "Betcha Can't Kiss Me (Just One Time)", "Do the Funky Penguin" and "Cadillac Assembly Line", a nod to Detroit's car plants. He released his first solo album, Right Now, in 1992, kept living in the Detroit area and died at home in the city in 2016.
Highlights
- Member of the Falcons (1957–1963)
- Wrote and first recorded "Mustang Sally" (1965)
- Co-wrote "Respect Yourself" for the Staple Singers
- Wrote "Cadillac Assembly Line" and "Cheaper to Keep Her"
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 2016
Great Lakes National Cemetery
His grave, in Holly, Oakland County (per Wikidata).