Sir Mack Rice was born in 1933 and moved to Detroit in 1950. By 1956 he joined the Falcons, a R&B group including Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett and Joe Stubbs. His biggest successes were as a songwriter for other artists on labels like Stax and others in the 1960s and in the following decades. He began his solo vocalist career at Stax in 1967, recording on Atco Records beginning in 1968. Rice is one of the few musicians whose career touched both Motown and Stax Records.
Mustang Sally and Respect Yourself are two of his greatest hits. His compositions have been performed by many well-known artists, including the Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Joe Cocker, Shirley Brown, Rufus Thomas, Etta James, Billy Eckstine, Eddie Floyd, Buddy Guy, The Rascals, The Kingsmen, Wilson Pickett, Albert Collins, Busta Rhymes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Clay and The Blues Brothers (in Blues Brothers 2000).
When moving to Memphis to join Stax records he proclaimed: "I was always funky. When I went there I was funky. But they was just a bit funkier." A well deserving inductee to the Canada South Blues Museum. Sir Mack Rice passed away June 27, 2016