Luther Dixon

Luther Dixon (August 7, 1931 – October 22, 2009) was an American songwriter, record producer, and singer. Dixon's songs achieved their greatest success in the 1950s and 1960s, and were recorded by Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Jackson 5, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dusty Springfield, Jimmy Reed and others. As a producer, Dixon helped create the signature sound of the girl group the Shirelles.

Early life Dixon was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was young. He learned to sing in church. In 1958, Bobby Darin recorded "All the Way Home", written by Dixon and Otis Blackwell, which was released on Darin's 1960 album For Teenagers Only. Burt Bacharach, and Mack David, reached No. 8.

With these successes, Dixon was approached by Capitol Records to set up his own record label, Ludix Records, but Ludix was unsuccessful. In 1966, Dixon was producing the Platters for Musicor Records. Their songs "I Love You 1000 Times" (No. 31, 1966) and "With This Ring" (No. 14, 1967)—their biggest hits since leaving Mercury Records—were both produced and co-written by Dixon.

By the late 1960s, Dixon's style of music had greatly faded from popular music charts. He received a surge of popularity after "16 Candles" was used in the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti, and again when the 1984 John Hughes film Sixteen Candles included a performance of the song by the Stray Cats. "Boys" was included in the 2009 video game The Beatles: Rock Band. Dixon's song "Never Let Me Go" was performed by Jane Monheit in the film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel with same title. Dixon was nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame one week before he died.

Personal life Dixon was married to soul singer Inez Foxx, with whom he co-wrote "I Love You 1000 Times". They later divorced. Dixon died in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. He was also married to Sonia Dixon (Nee Francis) which also ended in divorce.