Elvis Presley producer Lincoln 'Chips' Moman dies at 79


              FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2014, file photo, Lincoln "Chips" Moman, a producer, guitarist, and songwriter, appears at the unveiling of the American Studios historical marker in Memphis, Tenn. Moman, who helped Elvis Presley engineer a musical comeback in the late ‘60s and then moved to Nashville to record country legends like The Highwaymen, died Monday, June 13, 2016, in LaGrange, Ga. He was 79.  (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal via AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2014, file photo, Lincoln "Chips" Moman, a producer, guitarist, and songwriter, appears at the unveiling of the American Studios historical marker in Memphis, Tenn. Moman, who helped Elvis Presley engineer a musical comeback in the late ‘60s and then moved to Nashville to record country legends like The Highwaymen, died Monday, June 13, 2016, in LaGrange, Ga. He was 79. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal via AP, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Lincoln "Chips" Moman, a Memphis producer, musician and songwriter who helped Elvis Presley engineer a musical comeback in the late '60s and then moved to Nashville to record country legends like The Highwaymen, died Monday in LaGrange, Georgia. He was 79.

Donny Turner, a family friend who spoke with his wife Jane, said Moman died at a hospice facility due to lung disease.

Moman hitchhiked from Georgia to Memphis as a teenager and worked at Stax Records in the 1950s. At his American Sound Studio, he recorded The Gentrys, B.J. Thomas and Neil Diamond, and he persuaded Presley to return to Memphis to record "From Elvis in Memphis" and "Back in Memphis."

After moving to Nashville, he recorded with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson and more.

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