FEBRUARY 7
1921: Wilma Lee Leary was born in Valley Head, WV. Along with husband Stoney Cooper, she became a Grand Ole Opry member, and they scored four Top 10 hits from 1958-1961.
1943: Tony Booth was born in Tampa, FL. He enjoyed three minor hits in 1972, including “The Key’s In The Mailbox,” and went on to become the leader of Gene Watson’s Farewell Party Band.
1946: Sammy Johns was born in Charlotte, NC. Best known for his pop hit “Chevy Van,” he went on to write the country hits “Common Man,” by John Conlee; “America,” by Waylon Jennings; and “Desperado Love,” by Conway Twitty.
1953: Marty Robbins debuted on the Grand Ole Opry, performing “Ain’t You Ashamed” and “Good Night Cincinnati, Good Mornin’ Tennessee.”
1957: Jim Reeves recorded “Four Walls” during the evening at the RCA Studios in Nashville.
1959: The day of Buddy Holly’s funeral, his band–including Waylon Jennings–is forced to stay on the road, playing the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines.
1962: Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa, OK. Following his 1989 debut, he sold more than 100 million albums, winning multiple Entertainer of the Year awards from the CMA and ACM, leading the biggest boom in country’s history during the early-’90s.
1963: Patsy Cline had what proved to be the last recording session of her career at Nashville’s Columbia Recording Studio, cutting “He Called Me Baby,” a future hit for Charlie Rich. Her final song in the studio: “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone.”
1974: Cal Smith recorded “I Just Came Home To Count The Memories.”
1974: Billy “Crash” Craddock recorded “I Love The Blues And The Boogie Woogie” and his biggest hit, “Rub It In,” in an evening at Nashville’s Woodland Sound.
1975: Reprise released Emmylou Harris’ “Pieces Of The Sky” album.
1977: MCA released Mel Tillis’ “Heart Healer” album.
1981: John Conlee joined the Grand Ole Opry.
1989: Johnny Paycheck began serving a prison sentence in Chillicothe, OH, for shooting a man at the North High Lounge in Hillsboro in December 1985.
1994: Alan Jackson won two American Music Awards, including Favorite Country Single for “Chattahoochee.” The Dolly Parton-penned “I Will Always Love You” won two for Whitney Houston. Other winners include Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alabama and John Michael Montgomery.
1995: Mercury released Shania Twain’s album “The Woman In Me.”
2001: Happy trails to the Queen of the West: Dale Evans dies of congestive heart failure in Apple Valley, CA. She starred in 35 western movies with husband Roy Rogers and wrote “Happy Trails,” the theme to his 1950s TV show, in which she appeared.
2006: Merle Haggard, Cream and The Weavers are recognized with Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards at Los Angeles’ Wilshire Ebell Theatre. Late producer Owen Bradley earns a Trustees Award, and Tom Dowd earns a Technical Grammy.
2015: The Louvin Brothers were honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award along with George Harrison, Flaco Jimenez and The Bee Gees at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Trustees Awards were given to producer Richard Perry and songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
2015: Joe B. Mauldin, the former bass player for The Crickets, died of cancer in Nashville. In addition to working with Buddy Holly, he took part in the session for Billy Walker’s 1957 country hit “On My Mind Again.”
