DECEMBER 12
1915: Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, NJ. One of the best-loved vocalists of the 20th century, his 1940s hits “September Song” and “All Of Me” would be covered for the country market on Willie Nelson’s 1978 album “Stardust.”
1936: Guitarist Phil Baugh was born in Marysville, CA. He appeard on such hits as George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors” and “The Bottle Let Me Down.”
1936: Session guitarist Reggie Young was born in Caruthersville, MO. He played on Elvis Presley’s “In The Ghetto,” George Strait’s “The Chair,” Waylon Jennings’ “Luckenbach, Texas” and Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” among others.
1943: Guitarist Dickey Betts, of The Allman Brothers Band, was born in West Palm Beach, FL. The Allmans influenced many country acts, and Betts co-wrote one of Mickey Gilley’s hits, “Your Memory Ain’t What It Used To Be.”
1950: La Costa was born in Seminole, Texas. The older sister of Tanya Tucker, she recorded a pair of Top 10 singles, “Get On My Love Train” and “He Took Me For A Ride,” during the mid-1970s.
1956: Tennessee Ernie Ford was celebrated in an episode of NBC-TV’s “This Is Your Life.”
1957: The “I do” that strangled “the Killer’s” career, Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown. Part of the resulting furor was due to the fact that he was still married to his second wife, Jane Mitcham — and that this was his second bigamous marriage. Undaunted by the negative public opinion, he was determined to return to the top. He divorced Jane and legally married Myra in 1958, but, it was too late, the damage to his career had been done.
1960: Brenda Lee’s perennial Christmas single, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” makes its first appearance on the charts.
1972: Loretta Lynn recorded “The Pill” during an evening session at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, TN.
1972: Hank Williams Jr. and his wife, Gwen, had a son, Shelton Hank Williams, in Nashville. He made a mark with a rebellious mix of hard rock and stone country under the name Hank Williams III.
1974: George Jones & Tammy Wynette recorded “Near You“–the last song they recorded as husband and wife–in the evening at Nashville’s Columbia Studios.
1963: Bobby Bare recorded “Miller’s Cave” during the afternoon at RCA Studio B in Nashville.
1977: Willie Nelson recorded “Georgia On My Mind,” “Blue Skies” and “All Of Me” in Southern CA.
1987: Reba McEntire’s name appeared at #1 in Billboard with “The Last One To Know.”
1996: Clint Black received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He and his wife Lisa Hartman Black made a grand entrance in a stagecoach, and he received proclamations from the mayors of Nashville, Los Angeles and Houston.
2000: Faith Hill and Tim McGraw wrapped up their hugely successful “Soul 2 Soul” tour in Orlando, FL. According to MusicBusiness.com, it was the year’s highest grossing tour. The whirlwind, five-month tour that left 64 cities in its wake was the second time the supercouple had been on tour together. They fell in love the first time around back in 1996 during the aptly titled “Spontaneous Combustion” tour.
2001: “I Wanna Talk About Me,” Toby Keith’s anthem to suffering men everywhere, topped the country singles charts.
2017: Kix Brooks publicly opposed a development plan surrounding Nashville’s abandoned Greer Stadium, siding with Civil War preservationists who want to honor the history of nearby Fort Negley. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” producer T Bone Burnett is one of the creators of the plan Brooks dislikes.
2020: Charley Pride died of complications from COVID-19 in Dallas. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, he was the first Black singer to become a star in the genre. His hit list included “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone,” “Just Between You And Me” and his signature, “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’.” Hours after his passing, Chris Young honored him on the Grand Ole Opry by covering “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’.”
