 |
| Hank Williams |
 |
Hank Williams
|
Hank Williams was born Hiriam Williams on the 17/09/1923 in Mount Olive, Butler County Alabama and died on New Years Day the 01/01/1953 in Oak West Virginia.
The first band Hank Williams created was The Drifting Cowboys and he joined local radio station WSFA in 1941 after learning his guitar skills from a blues artist Rufus Payne aka Tee Tot.
After regularly singing songs from his idol Roy Acuff as well as others from the day, the station nicknamed him "The singing kid".
As WW2 began some of the band members from "The Drifting Cowboys" left as they were conscripted to join the good fight, Hank had trouble recruiting replacements and WSFA eventually had enough and ended the contract when his drinking became too much.
He met Audrey Mae Sheppard (a farm girl from Banks Alabama) in 1943 who became his manager for almost a decade as well as his wife. They married in 1944 and lived in his Mother's boarding house, as 1946 came round Hank Williams was a celebrity locally but as he wanted to become a national celebrity he and Audrey visited Nashville with the intention of meeting "Fred Rose" one of the heads of "Acuff-Rose Publishing", Rose liked William's songs and so William's ended up having two sessions for Sterling Records. This recording session created two singles "Never Again December 1946" and "Honky Tonkin February 1947" which became very successful. Williams signed a contract with MGM records in and with them made "Move it on Over" which was a hit, Williams then joined "The Louisiana Hayride" radio program.
In 1949 Williams recorded "Lovesick Blues", a song originally recorded by "Emmett Miller" and made popular by "Rex Griffin". The single was released in the spring of 1949 and was a massive hit reaching no1 for 16 weeks and actually crossed over to the pop top 25 charts. Hank played the song in a set he did at "The Grand Ole Opry" where he had a record six encores, he had finally made it into stardom.
In 1949 Williams recorded "Lovesick Blues", a song originally recorded by "Emmett Miller" and made popular by "Rex Griffin". The single was released in the spring of 1949 and was a massive hit reaching no1 for 16 weeks and actually crossed over to the pop top 25 charts. Hank played the song in a set he did at "The Grand Ole Opry" where he had a record six encores, he had finally made it into stardom.
Although he could barely read or notate music he created many classic songs including "Hey Good Lookin, Your Cheating Heart" and "I'm so Lonesome I could cry".
Due to years of pain through the Spina Bifida Occulta which was centred on the spinal column he suffered from birth he became abusive toward prescription drugs and alcohol which ultimately contributed to an early death on the 01/01/1953.
No comments:
Post a Comment