Posted by Pete Smith on January 1, 2008, 3:19 am
81.132.17.23
“The Advertiser” (UK) 21 December 2007
Christmas is a time for giving, for love and for remembering and this week we remember some of the great names in country music who left us at this seasonal time. Marty Robbins, who, though he died at the early age of fifty-seven, had been recording hits through four decades. Marty’s third single, “I’ll Go On Alone” was his first number one (1953) and the beginning of an amazing career that would reveal massive hits ranging from “A White Sport Coat And A Pink Carnation” to “El Paso” to “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife”. In March of 1974 Marty became the last performer to play the Ryman Auditorium, original “Grand Ol’ Opry” and 1982 was inducted into the “Country Music Hall of Fame”. Marty suffered a third major heart attack which took his life on December 8.
Marty Robbins scored 94 chart hits in his long and illustrious career even scoring number five on the UK pop charts with “Devil Woman”, just one of five times he made that chart.
Like Marty Robbins, Faron Young scored his first hit (a number 2) in 1953. “Goin’ Steady” kicked off a recording career that would stretch almost thirty years and which would include “If You Ain’t Lovin’”, “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young”, “Sweet Dreams” and “Hello Walls”. In 1972 Faron scored a number 3 UK pop hit with “It’s Four In The Morning”, a song not considered strong enough by his American recording company it was therefore, uniquely, a hit in Britain before the states. Apart from hit records and concert tours Faron appeared in movies, ten in total, and was also a television favourite. During the 1990s Faron developed emphysema which gradually brought his career to a halt. Depression set in and on 18 December 1996 Faron Young committed suicide.
Other major figures to pass away during the month of December include bluegrass legends Carter Stanley and Jim McReynolds (Jim and Jesse), Rabon Delmore (Delmore Brothers), Molly O’Day. Fiddlin’ John Carson, Roy Orbison, who began his career in country with the Wink Westerners and Rick Nelson, who ended his career in country with the Stone Canyon Band.
So at this, a time of love, let us remember these great performers and the joy they have given us over the years.
In my opinion the greatest love song ever written is “If Tomorrow Never Comes”. The song was a massive hit for Garth Brooks and later Ronan Keating and as we all know the message is to tell our loved ones how much we really do love them before it is too late. Through experience I know only too well how important that is. So this Christmas do just that – it will be the best present you could ever give. And, incidentally, the reason for the season, Jesus, would not mind being reminded of your love either. Have a brilliant Yuletide and God bless you all.
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