Al Green was born April 13, 1946, in Forrest City (St. Francis County), Arkansas. St. Francis County, located along the Mississippi Delta, is one of the most economically depress areas in the state, and hence the nation. green was born into a large family. When he was 9, he and his brothers formed a gospel quartet, the Green Brothers, which toured the South. A few years later, the family moved to grand Rapids, Mich., and by age 16, he formed a pop group, Al Green and the Creations, with high school buddies. Two other members of the band formed a label and the group cut "Back Up train" in 1967. The song hit #5 on the national R&B charts, but no further successes followed. In 1969, Green met Hi Records VP Willie Mitchell and the next year, Hi released Al Green's debut solo album, "Green Is Blues." A 3-year string of hits followed, including his first gold single, "Tired of being Alone," a Green composition, as well as "I Can't Get next To You," Let's Stay Together" and others. In October 1974 in Memphis, an incident wherein a girlfriend poured boiling grits on Green while he was in the bathtub and then killed herself with his gun caused Green to rethink his position. He was hospitalized with 2nd-degree burns, and when he emerged, Green announced his intention to join the ministry. In 1976, he bought a memphis church and was ordained pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle -- but continued to tour as a soul singer. In 1977, he built a studio in memphis and began producing his own records. During a 1979 concert in Cincinnati concert, he fell off the stage, again giving Green causing pause, and renewed religious fervor. His 1980s albums on the Myrrh label are strictly gospel, standards and self-penned. In 1982, he appeared on Broadway with Patti LaBelle in the gospel musical "Your Arms Too Short To Box With God." In 1992, he signed a deal with BMG Records (although his albums are available only by import in the U.S.) and in 1994 he won a Grammy for a duet with Lyle Lovett. Like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding before him and Prince and Michael Jackson after him, Al Green represents -- and wrestles with -- the dichotomy of the sacred and the profane in music. The sacred has mostly won out in recent years; most Sundays, you can hear him preach in Memphis -- about 40 miles from his Arkansas birthplace.