Walt Aldridge

Walt Aldridge attended the University of Alabama as a business major before transferring to the University of North Alabama to enroll in its music business program, drawn in part by the school’s internship with FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals. That internship proved pivotal, showing Walt that he belonged in the studio and leading to a 17-year stint working with Rick Hall, the founder of FAME. Walt received his first guitar, a Silvertone, as a Christmas gift when he was eight years old, and he wrote a handful of songs as a teenager. Still, it was Rick Hall who encouraged him to pursue music as a full-time career. Walt went on to write dozens of hit songs, including “(There’s) No Gettin’ Over Me” by Ronnie Milsap (1981), “‘Till You’re Gone” by Barbara Mandrell (1982), “Holding Her and Loving You” by Earl Thomas Conley (1982), “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” by Travis Tritt (2000), and “I Loved Her First” (2006) by Heartland.