DECEMBER 9
1932: Billy Edd Wheeler was born in Whitesville, WV. He scored a novelty hit in 1964 with “Ode To The Little Brown Shack Out Back.” He also wrote “Jackson” for Johnny Cash & June Carter, and “Coward Of The County” for Kenny Rogers.
1935: David Houston was born in Bossier City, LA. He won a Grammy award for his 1966 recording of “Almost Persuaded,” and recorded with both Tammy Wynette and Barbara Mandrell while joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1972.
1956: Sylvia Kirby was born in Kokomo, IN. A secretary for record producer Tom Collins, she emerged with a series of glossy, pop-tinged recordings in the 1980s, topped by the million-selling “Nobody.”
1957: Pop singer Donny Osmond was born in Provo, UT. In 1976, he joined sister Marie Osmond, with whom he hosted a TV variety show, to win the American Music Award for Favorite Country Band, Duo or Group.
1957: Bobby Helms scored a #1 country single in Billboard with “My Special Angel.”
1966: Mel Tillis recorded “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love Town.” The song will come to prominence when it gets remade by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition.
1968: Merle Haggard recorded “Hungry Eyes” and “Silver Wings” at the Capitol Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
1971: Hank Williams Jr. recorded “Eleven Roses” in Nashville.
1979: Fiddler Tommy Jackson died in Nashville. One of the most influential musicians to play the instrument, he took part in recordings by Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Ray Price and Little Jimmy Dickens, among others.
1980: The “Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard (Good Ol’ Boys)” earned a gold single from the RIAA for Waylon Jennings.
1989: Garth Brooks nabbed his first #1 country single: “If Tomorrow Never Comes.”
1989: A small fire caused $25,000 in damage at Gilley’s nightclub in Pasadena, TX. The local fire chief classified the blaze as arson.
1995: Alan Jackson’s rendition of “Tall, Tall Trees” was planted at #1 on the Billboard country chart. The song was written by two members of the Country Music Hall of Fame: George Jones and Roger Miller.
1996: Faron Young shot himself in the head in Nashville, apparently distraught over his slumping career. He died a day later.
2005: Drummer Mike Botts died of cancer at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. A former member of the pop band Bread, he also appeared on Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ For Love” and Linda Ronstadt’s “Crazy.”
2016: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed the first of three concerts at the Neil Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, HI, recognizing the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
2017: Tim McGraw & Faith Hill were at #1 on the Billboard country albums chart with “The Rest Of Our Life.”
