Hank Williams Jr. signed with MGM Records for $500,000 in 1970. At the time, he was the highest earner in the label’s history. He wouldn’t get a #1 hit until two years later with Eleven Roses
Dolly Parton recorded her original version of To Daddy in 1976 at RCA Studio B in Nashville. It was later remade by her friend, Emmylou Harris.
Hattie Louise Bess–better-known as “Tootsie”–died in Nashville in 1978. Her bar on Lower Broadway in Nashville, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, became a hangout for Harlan Howard, Mel Tillis, Willie Nelson, Faron Young and others after she bought it in 1960. It’s still a hotspot today!
Warner Bros. released T.G. Sheppard’s I Loved ‘Em Every One in 1981.
The Sting II debuted in U.S. movie theaters in 1983, with Mac Davis starring alongside Jackie Gleason and Karl Malden.
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performed together for the first time since their 1974 breakup while taping an episode of Dolly! at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House in 1988.
Billy Dean had a fight with Superman when he portrayed a plumber on the ABC-TV series Lois & Clark in 1996.
Toby Keith and Bobby Braddock were announced as 2015 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees. Also in the class are Cyndi Lauper, Willie Dixon, Linda Perry, Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski–a.k.a. Pee Wee King–was born in Milwaukee, WI in 1914. He led the Golden West Cowboys to Grand Ole Opry membership and co-wrote Tennessee Waltz and entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974.
Pop songwriter/producer Bobby Hart was born in Phoenix, AZ in 1939. Best known for his work with The Monkees, he wrote Johnny Duncan and Janie Fricke’s Come A Little Bit Closer and Lane Brody’s Over You.
Judy Kay “Juice” Newton was born at Lakehurst Naval Base, NJ in 1952. A distant descendent of Sir Isaac Newton, she earned pop/country crossover hits during the 1980s with Queen Of Hearts, Angel Of The Morning and Break It To Me Gently.
