Alan Walden, who helped guide acts including Otis Redding and Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies at 83
The Georgia Music Hall of Famer also worked with The Outlaws. He is remembered as an advocate for Macon and its music heritage.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — 83-year-old pioneering music executive and lifelong Macon resident Alan Walden, who helped guide the careers of Otis Redding, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Outlaws, died Thursday.
Walden died peacefully following a battle with cancer, according to an obituary from Snow’s Memorial Chapel.
Born Roger Alan Walden Sr. in Macon on May 23, 1943, he was the youngest son of Clemiel Barto “C.B.” Walden and Carolyn Walden.
Walden entered the music business at 19 when he stepped in to manage Redding’s career while his brother, Phil Walden, served overseas.
What began as a temporary responsibility grew into a career as a manager, publisher, promoter and entrepreneur. Alan and Phil Walden helped build an artist management organization representing prominent rhythm and blues performers during segregation.
The Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce said the brothers helped break racial barriers in the music industry and integrate Southern music audiences.
Walden later helped bring Southern rock to a national audience through his work with Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws and other artists.
The Chamber credited his work with helping bring songs including “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Green Grass and High Tides” into American popular music.
Walden was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2021, he published his memoir, “Southern Man: Music and Mayhem in the American South.”
In a news release, the Chamber also remembered Walden as an advocate for Macon whose work continues to contribute to the city’s tourism, economic development and music identity.
Walden was the father of Greater Macon Chamber President and CEO Jessica Walden.
“The impact my father had on our community carried over to me in personal and profound ways,” Jessica Walden said. “His love of Macon was deep and wide. He could have lived anywhere the music industry called him, but he chose Macon.”
Jessica Walden said her father never stopped believing in Macon or the people who lived there.
“I am grateful that his legacy will live on through timeless songs, unforgettable stories and the special places throughout our hometown that bear witness to his life’s work,” she said. “But I will deeply miss my dad, a man who embodied unconditional love, welcomed everyone with kindness, treated every person with respect and never stopped believing in the power of saying, ‘Let’s just dream a little.'”
Private services will be held for the family, followed by burial at Riverside Cemetery. A public celebration of life is planned for September, with additional details to be announced.
In its release, the Chamber shared Visit Macon’s most recent video, where Walden personally recounts his own Macon story: https://youtu.be/e5xJuCS-qoM?si=aggxo84IQ2QCYSk5