North Florida Music Hall of Fame

This Jacksonville native (b. 1944) moved with his mother, after she divorced, to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he attended the University of Alabama. He dropped out to tour with a regional rock group called The Five Men-Its. The Men-Its played the same beach-club circuit as Daytona’s Allman Joys. In 1967, Hinton got an offer to work as a session guitarist with the house band at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. He abruptly quit the Men-Its, leaving the group without a lead singer. The group decided to disband, and two of its members joined with Duane and Gregg Allman to form Almanac (the band changed its name to Hourglass when it signed with Liberty Records later that year). When Hourglass broke up in 1968, Allman moved to Muscle Shoals, where Hourglass had recorded its second and last album for Liberty. Hinton and Allman, both hot-shot session players, became roommates. While at Muscle Shoals, Hinton performed on records for Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, the Staples Singers, the Dells, Elvis Presley, the Box Tops, Boz Scaggs and many others. Hinton was also a talented singer and songwriter. He wrote many songs, including “Cover Me” and “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right” for Percy Sledge and “Breakfast in Bed,” which was recorded by Dusty Springfield. In 1977, Hinton recorded his first solo album for Macon, apparently sent him into an emotional tailspin. Unable to cope, Hinton found himself homeless. Muscle Shoals Sound producer Jimmy Johnson helped Hinton get a second album together, which was released in 1982 by Rounder Records. Hinton recorded two more albums on Rounder’s blues subsidiary, Bullseye Blues. He died of heart failure in 1995 while working on an album of new material in Birmingham, Ala., where he lived with his mother. The album was released by a reconstituted Capricorn Records in 1998.