Sheffield is a city in
Colbert County,
Alabama,
United States, and is included in the
Shoals metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 9,039. Sheffield is the birthplace of "country-soul pioneer" and songwriter
Arthur Alexander, French horn player
Willie Ruff, notable
attorney, actor, former senator and presidential contender
Fred Thompson, Watergate committee U.S. Senator
Howell Heflin and U.S. Senator
Mitch McConnell, whose father was working in nearby
Athens when he was born. It sometimes is referred to as "the City of Senators" from due to the births of Heflin, McConnell and Thompson within its borders.
Col. Harland Sanders worked in the Sheffield depot for Southern Railway in the 1900s. It is also home to the
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where many popular 20th century musicians recorded their work, including Alexander and Ruff. It is the site of historic Helen Keller Hospital, formerly known as Colbert County Hospital and originally constructed in 1921. It was changed to
Helen Keller Hospital in 1979, and Keller's birthplace Ivy Green is located less than one mile southwest of the hospital in adjacent
Tuscumbia.