2009-2018, 2024-Brittany HowardVocals, guitar2009-2018, 2024-
Zac CockrellBass2009-2018, 2024-
Steve JohnsonDrums2009-2018
Heath FoggGuitar2009-2018, 2024-
The origins of Alabama Shakes lie at East Limestone High School near Athens, Alabama, where budding singer-songwriter Brittany Howard met fellow student Zac Cockrell at psychology class. The pair bonded over Led Zeppelin and The Ramones, and began jamming together, fleshing out Howard's songs.
After Howard and Cockrell graduated, they approached punk-rock drummer Steve Johnson, who was working at a local music store, to join the band. The trio recorded some of their songs for a demo recording at Clearwave Studio in Decatur, Alabama.
From 2009 and into most of 2011, The Shakes, as they were then known, were still very much part-time. Johnson worked at a nuclear power station and Cockrell an animal clinic. Howard worked for the post office and was miserable. She recalled to The Observer: "Work, work, work - just to give your money to the utility company. Every day I went in thinking: 'F--k this place.'"
Guitarist Heath Fogg was the last to join on his return to Athens from college in Tuscaloosa. Initially part of a rival band, he switched groups after hearing The Shakes' Clearwave demo.
By the early 2010s Howard had switched jobs, working 12-hour days at an Athens post office, still dreaming of a career in music. "I was like, 'Please, God, let me quit my job,'" she told Billboard magazine. "'I'll do whatever it takes to never work again.'"
Alabama Shakes released the four-song self-titled EP in September 2011. The record was recorded in anonymity, using money scraped together from gigs as a cover band. It gained them media attention and, within a year, the band went from virtual obscurity to playing venues such as the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
Alabama Shakes made their US national television debut on February 7, 2012 on
Conan, where they performed their debut single, "
Hold On."
Brittany Howard is 5 feet, 10 inches and biracial (her father is black, her mom is white).
When Howard was 8 years old, her 13-year-old sister Jaime died from retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer. The
Boys & Girls closing track "
On Your Way" is dedicated to the singer's fallen sibling, and Howard named her first solo album
Jaime in tribute.
Alabama Shakes have a throwback sound centered around Brittany Howard's powerful voice - it often sounds like she doesn't need a microphone. She's been singing as long as she can remember. "It was something that was just for fun in our household," she told Consequence. "You sing all you want, and nobody's gonna slap you."
Brittany Howard is partially blind in one eye because of the retinoblastoma treatment she had as a baby. It was for the same cancer that killed her sister Jaime.
Brittany Howard first realized that she wanted to be a musician at the age of 11 when she saw her first live concert in her high school gym.
"There was no money for lessons," Howard told Mojo magazine. "My sister had a guitar that she played – a big heavy Les Paul rip-off. I don't know where it came from. I started learning on that, then started learning keys, bass and drums. I really wanted a band and knew that the kids in school were either too old to be in a band with me, or too established. So I needed to learn all the instruments, so I could teach kids might age how to play (laughs)."
Their first gig was in May 2009 at The Brick Deli & Tavern in Decatur, Alabama under the name "The Shakes."
"People had never seen a group like us before," Howard recounted to Mojo. "Zac had a little funny moustache. Steve's back there wearing a Boston Celtics Jersey. Heath looks like he's a clean cut, fine young man. And then I walk up, this tall black woman with curly hair. People are like, 'What's this gonna sound like?' But we rocked the house for 30 minutes. And I blacked out the whole time, I was so nervous. When we finished, they handed us $200 each. And I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, we get money too?!'"
The Alabama Shakes were named New/Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2012 Americana Music Association Awards, where
Howard sang "
The Weight" with Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt and various others. This was an early example of her being separated from her bandmates for a project, which happened a lot over the next several years. In 2013 she was part of a similar tribute at the Grammy Awards, this time singing "The Weight" with Elton John, Zac Brown and Mumford & Sons.
They appear in the 2017 documentary The American Epic Sessions, where they perform "Killer Diller Blues," a 1946 song by Memphis Minnie. In the film, artists record songs to a restored 1925 recording system with one take and no editing. The Shakes' performance was a standout and won the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance. Other artists in the film include Elton John, Jack White and the rapper Nas.
Alabama Shakes went on hiatus after their 2017 tour, with Brittany Howard releasing two solo albums. They returned to action on December 18, 2024 at the Get-Up 3 concert in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Howard was billed as a solo artist for the show, so fans were surprised when Zac Cocktell and Heath Fog joined her and played a set of Alabama Shakes songs. In 2025 they released a new song, "
Another Life," and went back on tour.
