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"Uptown Funk" Is Memphis' first No. 1 in Nearly 40 Years

Royal Studios

It's been decades since a locally recorded song has topped Billboard. Royal Studios' "Uptown Funk" fixes that.

  

Boo Mitchell, the son of legendary producer Willie Mitchell, can now add a Billboard No. 1 tune to his resume as an engineer. In this interview, he discusses his philosophy on recording and why he thinks top musicians are looking anew at Memphis as a place to cut an album.

The last Billboard No. 1 hit to come out of Royal Studios was the 1972 Al Green classic "Let's Stay Together." But the last No. 1 hit to come out of ANY Memphis recording studio was a 1976 novelty song by Rick Dees, "Disco Duck."

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' tune "Uptown Funk" has now been three weeks at No. 1. The song was released last November on Ronson's album "Uptown Special."

Reporting from the gates of Graceland to the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Christopher has covered Memphis news, arts, culture and politics for more than 20 years in print and on the radio. He is currently WKNO's News Director and Senior Producer at the University of Memphis' Institute for Public Service Reporting. Join his conversations about the Memphis arts scene on the WKNO Culture Desk Facebook page.