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Harold Reid (August 21, 1939 - April 24, 2020)
Harold Reid, whose resonant bass, comic touch and business acumen helped make the Statler Brothers a top-grossing touring act and a steady presence on the country music charts for decades, died on Friday at his home in Staunton, Va. He was 80. His nephew Langdon Reid said the cause was kidney failure.
Jan Howard, a 49-year member of the Grand Ole Opry and a chart-topping country singer, died Saturday in Gallatin, Tennessee, according to a statement from the Opry. She was 91. Born Lula Grace Johnson in West Plains, Missouri, in 1930, she was the eighth of 11 children, two of whom died before reaching the age of two. After dropping out of high school, Howard married at 16 but soon divorced and moved to Los Angeles. There, she would meet Wynn Stewart, one of the architects of the Bakersfield Sound. She would also meet her second husband, songwriter Harlan Howard. She signed to Challenge Records and, at the label’s request, changed her name to Jan Howard. Her first hit, penned by her husband and Fuzzy Owen, was “The One You Slip Around With,” a Top 20 single in 1960.
From Fiona Whelan Prine...
Our beloved John died yesterday evening at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville TN. We have no words to describe the grief our family is experiencing at this time. John was the love of my life and adored by our sons Jody, Jack and Tommy, daughter in law Fanny, and by our grandchildren.
John contracted Covid-19 and in spite of the incredible skill and care of his medical team at Vanderbilt he could not overcome the damage this virus inflicted on his body.
I sat with John - who was deeply sedated- in the hours before he passed and will be forever grateful for that opportunity.
My dearest wish is that people of all ages take this virus seriously and follow guidelines set by the CDC. We send our condolences and love to the thousands of other American families who are grieving the loss of loved ones at this time - and to so many other families across the world.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of love we have received from family, friends, and fans all over the world. John will be so missed but he will continue to comfort us with his words and music and the gifts of kindness, humor and love he left for all of us to share.
In lieu of flowers or gifts at this time we would ask that a donation be made to one of the following non profits:
Country music mourned the passing of Joe Diffie, On March 29, 2020 the voice behind hits like "Pickup Man" and "John Deere Green." The Grammy winner and longtime Grand Ole Opry member died Sunday from coronavirus complications at 61.
Charlie Daniels paid his respect on Twitter by posting the video of Diffie's 1993 song "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)." Diffie didn't write the song, but he made it his own with lyrics that included, "Just let my headstone be a neon sign / Just let it burn in memory of all of my good times." He sang. "I'll be the life of the party, even when I'm dead and gone."
"It’s such a shock and such a loss for country music," wrote Daniels next to a picture with Diffie. "Rest In Peace Joe."
Kenny Rogers (August 21, 1938 - March 20, 2020)
In a career that spanned more than six decades, Kenny Rogers left an indelible mark on the history of American music. His songs have endeared music lovers and touched the lives of millions around the world. Chart-topping hits like “The Gambler,” “Lady,” “Islands In The Stream” (with Dolly Parton), “Lucille,” “She Believes In Me,” and “Through the Years” are just a handful of Kenny’s songs that continue to inspire new generations of artists and fans alike. With twenty-four number-one hits to his credit, Rogers miraculously charted a song within each of the last seven decades. He is a Country Music Hall of Fame member, twenty-one-time American Music Awards winner, eleven-time People’s Choice Awards winner, ten-time ACM Awards winner, six-time CMA Awards winner, three-time GRAMMY® Award winner, recipient of the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, CMT Artist of a Lifetime Award honoree in 2015 and was voted the “Favorite Singer of All Time” in a joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People.
Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020)
He was an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his contributions to Southernrock, country, and bluegrass music. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Much of his output, including all but one of his eight Billboard Hot 100 charting singles, was credited to the Charlie Daniels Band.
Daniels was active as a singer and musician from the 1950s until his death. He was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009,and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Mac Davis (January 21, 1942 - September 29, 2020)
Scott Mac Davis was an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. A native of Lubbock, Texas, he enjoyed success as a crossover artist, and during his early career wrote for Elvis Presley, providing him with the hits "Memories", "In the Ghetto", "Don't Cry Daddy", and "A Little Less Conversation". A subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me". Davis also starred in his own variety show, a Broadway musical, and various films and TV shows.
Johnny Bush (February 17, 1935 - October 16, 2020)
Bush was born John Bush Shinn III in the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood of Houston. He listened to the western swing music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and the honky-tonk sounds of artists such as Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, and Hank Thompson. His uncle, the host of a local radio program on KTHT, urged Bush and his brother to play on air, giving Bush his first experience of performing in public. Bush subsequently moved to San Antonio in 1952, beginning a solo career in area honky-tonks such as the Texas Star Inn, before switching to drums. During this period, he earned his stage name, when an announcer mistakenly introduced him as "Johnny Bush". As a drummer, he worked for bands such as the Mission City Playboys, the Texas Plainsmen, and the Texas Top Hands
Jerry Jeff Walker (March 16, 1942 - October 23, 2020)
He was an American country music singer and songwriter. He was a leading figure in the outlaw country music movement. He was best known for having written the 1968 song "Mr. Bojangles".
Walker was born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York, on March 16, 1942. His father, Mel, worked as a sports referee and bartender; his mother, Alma (Conrow), was a housewife. His maternal grandparents played for square dances in the Oneonta area – his grandmother, Jessie Conroe, playing piano, while his grandfather played fiddle. During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones.
Billy Joe Shaver (August 16, 1939 - October 28, 2020)
Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas, and raised by his mother, Victory Watson Shaver. His father Virgil left the family before Billy Joe was born. Until he was 12, he spent a great deal of time with his grandmother in Corsicana, so his mother could work in Waco. He sometimes accompanied his mother to her job at a local nightclub, where he began to be exposed to country music.
Shaver's mother remarried about the time that his grandmother died, so his older sister Patricia and he moved in with their mother and new stepfather. Shaver left school after the eighth grade to help his uncles pick cotton, but occasionally returned to school to play sports.
Hal Michael Ketchum (April 9, 1953 – November 23, 2020)
was an American country music artist. He released eleven studio albums from 1986 to 2014, including nine for divisions of Curb Records. Ketchum's 1991 album Past the Point of Rescue was his most commercially successful, having been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Between 1991 and 2006, Ketchum had 17 entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including three that reached No. 2, "Small Town Saturday Night", "Past the Point of Rescue", and "Hearts Are Gonna Roll". Ketchum's music is defined by his songwriting and folk music influences. Ketchum retired from the music business in 2019 following a diagnosis of dementia.
Charlie Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 - December 12, 2020)
Charley Pride, the pioneering black country singer known for such hits as “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” has died from complications related to Covid-19, according to his publicist. He was 86.
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Born in Sledge, Mississippi, in 1934, Pride picked cotton, played baseball in the Negro league, served in the U.S. Army, and worked in a smelting plant in Montana before moving to Nashville and becoming country music’s first black superstar. He scored 52 Top 10 country hits, including 29 Number Ones, and was the first African-American performer to appear on the Grand Ole Opry stage since Deford Bailey made his debut in the 1920s. Pride became an Opry member in 1993. In 2000, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
William Edwin Bruce Jr. (December 29, 1939 – January 8, 2021)
was an American country music songwriter, singer, and actor. He was known for writing the 1975 song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and recording the 1982 country number one hit "You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had". He also co-starred in the television series Bret Maverick with James Garner during the 1981–1982 season.
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Bruce was born in Keiser, Arkansas, United States, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1957, at the age of 17, he went to see Jack Clement, a recording engineer for Sun Records. Bruce caught the attention of Sun owner Sam Phillips, for whom he wrote and recorded "Rock Boppin' Baby" (as "Edwin Bruce").
Billy Joe Thomas (August 7, 1942 – May 29, 2021) was an American singer widely known for his pop, country, and Christian hits of the 1960s and 1970s. He made popular recordings of "Hooked on a Feeling" (1968), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (1969), and "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (1975).
Five-time Grammy award winner and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, B.J. Thomas, died today at home in Arlington, Texas at the age of 78 from complications due to stage four lung cancer.
Thomas T. Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021) the singer-songwriter who composed "Harper Valley P.T.A." and sang about life's simple joys as country music's consummate blue-collar bard, has died. He was 85.
His son, Dean Hall, confirmed the musician's death on Friday at his home in Franklin, Tenn. Known as "The Storyteller" for his unadorned yet incisive lyrics, Hall composed hundreds of songs.
Stonewall Jackson (November 6, 1932 - December 4, 2021) was an American country singer and musician who achieved his greatest fame during country's golden honky tonk era in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was named after the famous general, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, who was an ancestor. His most popular song was "Waterloo" in 1959. Stonewall would go on to have quite a successful recording career, releasing twenty Top 20 singles over the next many years, including #1’s for “Waterloo” in 1959, and “B.J. and the D.J.” in 1964, and 35 Top 40 hits between 1958 and 1971. His final hit was a cover of Lobo’s “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo.”
Naomi Judd (born Diana Ellen Judd; January 11, 1946 – April 30, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter and actress. In 1983, she and her daughter Wynonna formed the duo known as the Judds, which became a very successful act in country music, winning five Grammy Awards and nine Country Music Association awards. The Judds ceased performing in 1991 after Naomi was diagnosed with hepatitis; while Wynonna continued to perform as a solo artist, she occasionally reunited with her mother for tours as The Judds. She died on April 30, 2022, the day before she was to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936[1] – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as well.
Among his biggest hits are "Room Full of Roses", "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time", and the remake of the Soul hit "Stand by Me". Gilley charted 42 singles in the top 40 on the US Country chart. He was a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl McVoy, and Jimmy Swaggart.
