Singer and Songwriter. Rice will best be remembered for penning such classic R&B/soul hits as "Mustang Sally" and "Respect Yourself." Born Bonny Rice, as a teen he was an avid fan of music of the 1940s, but had no aspirations to sing professionally. Eventually, one of his boyhood friends, a young Ike Turner, convinced him to do so. In 1950, while in high school, Rice joined his first singing group, The Five Scalders, winning a couple of talent contests. After graduating, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served several years in Germany. When he returned to Detroit in 1955, he answered an ad in the newspaper placed by a music group looking for new members. The group he would join was The Falcons, and it would feature two singers who later figured prominently in Stax Records lore: Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd. The Falcons enjoyed some success over the years, with hits like "You're So Fine" and "I Found Love" before Pickett left to go solo in 1963. Rice and Floyd kept going as a duo for a couple of years, touring the South heavily. Eventually, the duo split and Rice began writing songs. One of his early songs was a song about Ford's new sports car. Originally titled "Mustang Mama", it was soul queen Aretha Franklin who suggested the song's now famous title, "Mustang Sally". Although Rice had scored a small R&B hit with his own version of the song for the Mercury/Blue Rock label, the hit version came with Pickett's rendition. Although Rice would cut a handful of solo singles for Stax over the years, he would become known for writing such hits as: "Knock on Wood", "Hold it Baby", "Betcha Can't Kiss Me (Just One Time)", "Cheaper to Keep Her", "Cadillac Assembly Line", "Cold Women With Warm Hearts", "Do the Funky Penguin, Pt. 1" and "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'" for such artists as The Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Shirley Brown, Rufus Thomas, Etta James, Buddy Guy, The Rascals, The Kingsmen, Albert Collins, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Otis Clay.