Hit Songwriter Walt Aldridge Passes

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Walt Aldridge. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Walt Aldridge died Wednesday (Nov. 19) at age 70 following a long illness.

He was noted for such award-winning songs as “(There’s) No Gettin’ Over Me,” “Holding Her and Loving You” and “I Loved Her First.” Aldridge was also a producer, a singer, a studio engineer, a guitarist and a bandleader. He taught in the Entertainment Industry Department of the University of North Alabama for approximately 10 years. He was a mainstay of the Muscle Shoals music scene.

James Walton Aldridge Jr. was a native of Florence, Alabama, and he remained in that area for most of his life. He spent 17 years as a staff engineer at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. During that time, he worked on more than 200 records for artists such as Mac Davis, Wilson Pickett, The Osmonds, Clarence Carter, the Gatlins, Jerry Reed and Dobie Gray.

His songwriting career took flight with “(There’s) No Gettin’ Over Me” in 1981 when Ronnie Milsap took the song to No. 1 on the country chart and won a Grammy Award for his performance. Co-written with frequent collaborator Tom Brasfield, the song also became a top pop hit and won ASCAP’s Country Song of the Year award in 1982.

Other early songwriting hits for Aldridge included “’Til You’re Gone” sung by Barbara Mandrell (1982), “Holding Her and Loving You” by Earl Thomas Conley (1983), “She Sure Got Away With My Heart” by John Anderson (1984), “Crime of Passion” by Ricky Van Shelton (1987) and “One Owner Heart,” “Doncha” and “In Over My Heart” all by T.G. Sheppard (1985). All of these were top-10 hits. “Holding Her and Loving You” was named the NSAI Song of the Year.

The songwriter had top-20 successes with “She’s Steppin’ Out” for Con Hunley (1981), “Anybody’s Heart But Mine” for Terri Gibbs (1983) and “Save the Last Chance” (1985) for Johnny Lee (1985).

In the late 1980s, Walt Aldridge sang lead, produced and wrote the songs for the country-rock band The Shooters. The group charted with seven of Aldridge’s co-written tunes in 1987-89, including “They Only Come Out at Night” (1987), “Borderline” (1988) and “If I Ever Go Crazy” (1989). The group’s lone album was issued by Epic Records in 1987.

Aldridge also continued writing for others. Conway Twitty scored a major hit with “She’s Got a Single Thing in Mind” in 1989. In 1990, Shenandoah succeeded with “See If I Care” and Ricky Van Shelton went to the top of the charts in 1991 with “I Am a Simple Man.” Steve Wariner’s “Leave Him Out of This” (1992), BlackHawk’s “I Sure Can Smell the Rain” (1994), Pam Tillis’s “Deep Down” (1995), BlackHawk’s “Like There Ain’t No Yesterday” (1995), Reba McEntire’s “The Fear of Being Alone” (1996), and Sons of the Desert’s “Whatever Comes First” (1997) were all top-10 hits co-written by Aldridge. His songwriting collaborators often included his fellow Muscle Shoals neighbors Mac McAnally, Robert Byrne and James LeBlanc, as well as Brasfield. He also wrote regularly with Nashville folk performer Kate Campbell.

Walt Aldridge entered the new century with a new clutch of songwriting hits. These included “Some Things Never Change” for Tim McGraw (2000), “Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde” for Travis Tritt (2002) and the chart-topping “I Loved Her First” for Heartland (2006).

He wrote songs that were covered by Alabama, T. Graham Brown, Joe Diffie, George Strait, Restless Heart, K.T. Oslin, Tanya Tucker, Darryl Worley, Jo Dee Messina, Sammy Kershaw, Martina McBride, Lonestar, Blake Shelton Little Texas, Ty Herndon, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Anderson, Eddy Raven and a host of other big country stars.

Walt Aldridge wrote or co-wrote 56 top-40 country hits over four decades. His pop-music cuts include recordings by Peter Cetera, Lou Reed, Candi Staton and Andrew Gold, among others.

As a record producer, Walt Aldridge worked with Lacy J. Dalton, Lisa Angelle, Marty Stuart, Buffy Lawson, Troy Goldsby, and Jason Sellers, as well as Campbell and Heartland.

Aldridge was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017 and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2018. He earned more than 30 songwriter awards from ASCAP.

Walt Aldridge is survived by his wife, Stephanie, children Rachael Stolt and Hannah Aldridge, nine grandchildren, sister Ramona Faucett and a large extended family. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Morrison Funeral Home & Crematory in Florence, Alabama.

As a gift to the family, the Entertainment Department of the University of North Alabama is hosting the funeral service at its Mane Room, 310 N Pine St, Florence, AL. Visitation will be Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 12:00pm – 2:00pm. Service will immediately follow visitation. Burial will be at Greenview Memorial Park located at 3657 Old Chisholm Rd., Florence, AL following the service.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Walt Aldridge Entertainment Industry Scholarship. Checks may be sent to: UNA Foundation, UNA, Box 5113, Florence, AL 35632. Reference the Walt Aldridge Entertainment Industry Scholarship. To send flowers to the family or to plant a tree in memory of Walt Aldridge, contact Morrison Funeral Home.

Robert K Oermann
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