August 22, 1947
Singer Donna Jean Godchaux was born in Florence. Godchaux worked as a session singer in Muscle Shoals and recorded with artists such as Boz Scaggs, Cher and Neil Diamond. While in Muscle Shoals, she appeared as a backup singer on two Billboard No. 1 hit songs, “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge in 1966 and “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley in 1969. She later became a member of her husband’s band, the Grateful Dead, performing as a backup and lead vocalist from 1972 to 1979. Godchaux was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
