Legendary Country Music
Performer Hank Williams was born September 17, 1923 in Alabama .
By the early age of 25, he was a country music superstar and by the
early age of 29, he was dead. Williams
left behind a legacy of country classics in his brief but lasting repertoire.
Hank Williams, known as
the Father of contemporary country music, is perhaps one of the most
misunderstood of country legends. During
his lifetime, he was known as increasingly unreliable, a drunk, a drug addict,
and reckless womanizer.
What was unknown to almost
everyone at the time was Williams suffered from a congenital spinal disorder
since birth and every year his condition worsened. He was born with a mild undiagnosed case of
spina bifida occulta, a disorder of the spinal column, which gave him lifelong
pain—a factor in his later abuse of alcohol and drugs.
As a result, Williams
first used excessive alcohol in his early teens to disguise the intense pain he
suffered all the time. It was not an
easy life growing up in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930's.
When he was eight years
old, he was given a guitar by his mother. His musical education was provided by
a local blues street singer, Rufus Payne, a Black musician who was called Tee
Tot. From Tee Tot, Williams learned how to play the guitar and sing the
blues. Hank was a gifted musician and
songwriter who had his own band and radio show by the time he was in his late
teens.
Hank’s monumental legacy
becomes even more notable when realizing he issued only thirty singles in his
lifetime—and five more posthumously. Eleven went to #1. All were recorded in
less than six years, between December 1946 and September 1952. Yet that small
body of work changed the course of American music, forever altering the sound
of country music and motivating songwriters of all styles to dare to be as
emotionally bare and as unabashedly real as Hank had been.
The following are more
detailed accounts of the life and times of Hank Williams and his remarkable
journey from the pinnacle of success to the depths of defeat. We dedicate this story to the true legacy of
the most famous country singer of all time who set the standard for being the
best at a level seldom achieved in any musical genre.
CMT Artists Biography
Hank
Williams - Father of Contemporary Country Music
Hank Williams is the father of contemporary country
music. He was a superstar by the age of 25; he was dead at the age of 29. In
those four short years, he established the rules for all the country performers
who followed him and, in the process, much of popular music. Hank wrote a body
of songs that became popular classics, and his direct, emotional lyrics and
vocals became the standard for most popular performers. He lived a life as
troubled and reckless as that depicted in his songs.
Hiram King Williams was born inMount
Olive , AL , on
September 17, 1923. When he was eight years old, he was given a guitar by his
mother. His musical education was provided by a local blues street singer,
Rufus Payne, who was called Tee Tot. From Tee Tot, Williams learned how to play
the guitar and sing the blues, which would come to provide a strong
undercurrent in his songwriting. Williams began performing around the Georgiana
and Greenville areas of Alabama in his early teens. His mother moved
the family to Montgomery , AL , in 1937, where she opened a boarding
house. In Montgomery ,
he formed a band called the Drifting Cowboys and landed a regular spot on a
local radio station, WSFA, in 1941. During his shows, Williams would sing songs
from his idol, Roy Acuff, as well as several other country hits of the day.
WSFA dubbed him "the Singing Kid" and Williams stayed with the
station for the rest of the decade.
Williams met Audrey Mae Sheppard, a farm girl from Banks, AL, in 1943 while he was playing a medicine show. The following year, the couple married and moved into Lilly's boarding house. Audrey became Williams' manager just before the marriage. By 1946, he was a local celebrity, but he was unable to make much headway nationally. That year, Hank and Audrey visitedNashville with the intent of meeting
songwriter/music publisher Fred Rose, one of the heads of Acuff-Rose
Publishing. Rose liked Williams' songs and asked him to record two sessions for
Sterling Records, which resulted in two singles. Both of the singles --
"Never Again" in December 1946 and "Honky Tonkin'" in
February 1947 -- were successful and Williams signed a contract with MGM
Records early in 1947. Rose became the singer's manager and record producer.
"Move It on Over," released later in 1947, became Hank's first single for MGM. It was an immediate hit, climbing into the country Top Five. By the summer of 1948, he had joined The Louisiana Hayride, appearing both on its tours and radio programs. "HonkyTonkin '"
was released in 1948, followed by "I'm a Long Gone Daddy." While
neither song was as successful as "Move It on Over," they were
popular, with the latter peaking in the Top Ten. Early in 1949, he recorded
"Lovesick Blues," a Tin Pan Alley song initially recorded by Emmett
Miller and made popular by Rex Griffin. The single became a huge hit upon its
release in the spring of 1949, staying at number one for 16 weeks and crossing
over into the pop Top 25. Williams sang the song at the Grand Ole Opry, where
he performed an unprecedented six encores. He had become a star.
Hiram King Williams was born in
Williams met Audrey Mae Sheppard, a farm girl from Banks, AL, in 1943 while he was playing a medicine show. The following year, the couple married and moved into Lilly's boarding house. Audrey became Williams' manager just before the marriage. By 1946, he was a local celebrity, but he was unable to make much headway nationally. That year, Hank and Audrey visited
"Move It on Over," released later in 1947, became Hank's first single for MGM. It was an immediate hit, climbing into the country Top Five. By the summer of 1948, he had joined The Louisiana Hayride, appearing both on its tours and radio programs. "Honky
Hank and Audrey Williams had their first child, Randall Hank, in the spring of 1949. Also in the spring, Hank assembled the most famous edition of the Drifting Cowboys, featuring guitarist Bob McNett, bassist Hillous Butrum, fiddler Jerry Rivers, and steel guitarist Don Helms. Soon, he and the band were earning $1,000 per concert while selling out shows across the country. Williams had no fewer than seven hits in 1949 after the success of "Lovesick Blues," including the Top Five smashes "Wedding Bells," "Mind Your Own Business," "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)," and "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It." A string of additional singles followed in 1950, including the number one hits "Long Gone Lonesome Blues," "Why Don't You Love Me," and "Moanin' the Blues," as well as the Top Ten hits "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin'," "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy," "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me," "Why Should We Try," and "Nobody's Lonesome for Me." That same year, Williams began recording a series of spiritual records under the name Luke the Drifter.
Williams continued to rack up hits in 1951, beginning with the Top Ten hit "Dear John" and its number one flip side, "Cold, Cold Heart." That same year, pop vocalist Tony Bennett recorded his own version of "Cold, Cold Heart" to popular acclaim, leading to a stream of covers from such mainstream artists as Jo Stafford, Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine, Teresa Brewer, and several others. Williams had also begun to experience the fruits of crossover success, appearing on the Perry Como television show and joining a package tour that also featured Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and Minny Pearl. In addition to "Dear John" and "Cold, Cold Heart," Williams had several other hits in 1951, including the number one song "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "Howlin' at the Moon," "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," "Crazy Heart," "Lonesome Whistle," and "Baby, We're Really in Love," which all charted in the Top Ten.
Though his professional career was soaring, Hank's personal life was beginning to spin out of control. He had suffered a mild drinking problem before becoming a star, but it had been more or less controlled during his first few years of fame. However, as he began to earn large amounts of money and spend long times away from home, he began to drink frequently. Furthermore, Hank's marriage to Audrey was deteriorating. Not only were they fighting, resulting in occasional separations, but Audrey was trying to create her own recording career without any success. In the fall of 1951, Hank was on a hunting trip on his
In January of 1952, Hank and Audrey separated for a final time and he headed back to
Williams left his mother in early spring, moving in with Ray Price in
That fall, he met
Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar, the 19-year-old daughter of a Louisiana policeman. By October, they were
married. Hank also signed an agreement to support the baby -- who had yet to be
delivered -- of one of his other girlfriends, Bobbie Jett, in October. By the
end of the year, Williams was having heart problems and Toby Marshall, a con
man doctor, was giving him various prescription drugs to help soothe the pain.
Hank was scheduled to play a concert in
Hank was buried in
After his death, MGM wanted to keep issuing Williams records, so they took some of his original demos and overdubbed bands onto the original recording. The first of these, "Weary Blues from Waitin'," was a hit, but the others weren't quite as successful. In 1961, Hank was one of the first inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Throughout the '60s, Williams' records were released in overdubbed versions featuring heavy strings, as well as reprocessed stereo. For years, these bastardized versions were the only records in print, and only in the '80s, when his music was released on compact disc, was his catalog restored to its original form. Even during those years when only overdubbed versions of his hits existed, Williams' impact never diminished. His songs have become classics, his recordings have stood the test of time, and his life story is legendary. It's easy to see why Hank Williams is considered by many as the defining figure of country music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi.
Hank Williams
Encyclopedia of World Biography |
2004
COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc.
Hank Williams
In his tragically short
career, Hank Williams (1923-1953) became one of the most famous country and
western performers in the United
States . He wrote and recorded songs that are
still considered to be country music standards.
Hiram King "Hank" Williams
was born on September 17, 1923, near Mt.
Olive , Alabama , the
third child born to Elonzo Huble and Lillian (Skipper) Williams. His father
abandoned the family when Williams was a young child, spending many years at
veterans' hospitals for various ailments. It therefore became the
responsibility of his strong-willed mother to raise Williams and the other
children. Williams attended Sidney
Lanier High
School in Montgomery, but left school at the age
of 16.
Raised as a Fundamentalist Baptist,
Williams was steeped from his earliest childhood in the church's distinctive
sermons and music. He remained fond of the fire and brimstone images,
especially from the songs. His mother played the organ at Mt. Olive West Baptist
Church . "My earliest
memory," Williams told Rolling Stone writer Ralph J. Gleason, (as
quoted by Williams' biographer Colin Escott), "is sittin' on that organ
stool by her and hollerin'. I must have been five, six-years-old, and louder'n
anybody else." Williams also found inspiration in black music. He learned
to play the guitar in Greenville ,
Alabama , from a street performer
named Rufe Payne, known as Tee-Tot. "I was shinin' shoes and sellin' newspapers
and following [him] around to get him to teach me to play the git-tar,"
Williams told Gleason. "I'd give him 15 cents, or whatever I could get
ahold of for a lesson." Yet another musical inspiration for the lanky
teenager were the ever-present sounds of traditional country music performers
like the Carter family and Monroe brothers.
Early Career
Trying to break into the music
business, Williams entered talent contests all over the country. He won $15 at
the Empire Theater in Montgomery
by performing what is probably the first song he wrote, "WPA Blues,"
a blues critique of President Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era work program.
Too sickly and skinny for the hard labor jobs of his peers, Williams honed his
guitar and singing skills. In 1942, he managed to get his own weekly 15-minute
show on Montgomery
radio station WSFA. (In those days, radio programming was composed almost
entirely of live acts.) Williams spent several years (the precise number varied
wildly depending on who told it) at WSFA, eventually becoming a disk jockey. In
Montgomery , Williams made his first recording,
at Griffin 's
Radio Shop. Around this time, he organized his backup band, the Drifting
Cowboys, who would play with him through most of his career.
In 1943, Williams met Audrey Mae
Sheppard. At the age of 20, she was separated from her husband and a single
mother. In a ceremony just ten days after her divorce became final, she and
Williams were married before a justice of the peace at his gas station near Andalusia , Alabama
in December 1944. With the help of his new bride, who took over his mother's
motivating role, Williams traveled to Nashville .
He was determined to build a successful career in the country music business.
In 1946, Williams earned a writer's
contract after auditioning for Acuff-Rose publishing. He recorded his first
session in December 1946, and the single "Calling You" was released
in January 1947. The success of that record led to a one-year recording
contract with MGM records in March 1947. His first MGM single, "Move It On
Over," sold 108,000 copies in less than a year. His growing popularity
enabled Williams to secure a position on a bigger radio show, the Louisiana
Hayride, which was broadcast out of Shreveport ,
Louisiana . It was the biggest
listening audience he had ever reached.
Big Break
Williams recorded "Lovesick
Blues," from a 1922 musical called Oooh Ernest! "Lovesick
Blues, a song that was neither country nor blues in origin, and not even from
Hank's pen, gave him his breakthrough," Escott later wrote. "From the
opening line, with its keening yodel adding a dramatic flourish to the word
"blues," it was obvious that this was a performance—rather than a
song—that was impossible to ignore. Hank's performance almost instilled the
lyrics with meaning."
The song, released February 11, 1949,
quickly became Williams' trademark tune. It spent a year on the charts,
including 16 weeks at the top. Suddenly, Williams found himself on a roll. He
quickly recorded two more songs that also hit the charts, "Wedding Bells,"
and "Mind Your Own Business," a tune allegedly aimed at his wife.
Even though Williams was gaining a reputation for being unreliable and having a
problem with alcohol, the Grand Ole Opry reluctantly hired the rising young
star as a regular cast member in the summer of 1949.
As Williams grew more famous, his wife
began to push for her own spot in the limelight. Since the start of their
relationship, Williams had sometimes allowed her to play with the Drifting
Cowboys. They recorded several duets together. One demo revealed that
"Audrey's voice sounded like fingernails scraping down a blackboard. She
was shrill and tuneless, and her problems were compounded by a weak sense of
time," Escott wrote. "Her duets with Hank were like an extension of
their married life—she fought him for dominance on every note."
Rising Star
1949 was a very successful year for
Williams. Not only was he hired by the Grand Ole Opry, but he became the proud
parent of a son, Randall Hank Jr., who would later become a country music star in
his own right. In 1950, Williams had a series of successful songs including
"My Bucket's Got A Hole In It," "Long Gone Lonesome Blues,"
and "Why Don't You Love
Me. " He also released a
series of religious duets with his wife. Using his own increasing stardom as
leverage, Williams had helped his wife get a recording contract with Decca.
They were far less successful. He recorded his unpopular religious sermons
under the name "Luke the Drifter," so that jukebox operators who had
standing orders for any Hank Williams release wouldn't buy them.
Williams' success continued through
1951, and culminated with the release of "Cold, Cold Heart." The tune
spent almost a year at the top of the country music charts. Music executives
convinced pop crooner Tony Bennett to record a version of the song, which
became a hit for him as well. This was especially significant because it was
the first time a country song recorded by a pop artist had achieved such
stunning commercial success. Subsequently, Williams became noticed on a
national level, one of the first country singers to do so. In addition to their
musical activities, Williams and his wife found the time to launch a Nashville clothing store,
Hank and Audrey's Corral.
Decline and Fall
With greater success came increased
pressure. Williams felt an obligation to continue producing hit songs. He
allegedly bought some songs under shady circumstances and called them his own.
The relationship between Hank and Audrey Williams also grew tense, as
allegations of mutual infidelities flew. His problem with alcohol grew worse.
In January 1952, Audrey Williams filed for divorce.
"As his personal life began its
disintegration," Escott wrote, "Hank's recording career swung into
high gear. Every record he released under his own name during the last two
years of his life entered the top five of the country charts, and many were
covered for the pop market. Williams canceled some sessions, and failed to show
at others, but when he actually appeared in front of the studio microphone, it
seemed as though he could do no wrong."
Williams could not maintain the front
for long. Although he made television appearances and had even gotten some
movie offers, Williams lost what little control he had maintained over his
drinking. He also began abusing amphetamines and barbiturates. In 1952, he lost
his job with the Grand Ole Opry and was forced to return to the Louisiana
Hayride. He moved into his mother's boarding house in Montgomery , Alabama .
Williams married for the second time
on October 19, 1952. His new bride was Billie Jean Jones, the daughter of the Bossier City , Louisiana ,
police chief. The wedding took place three times at the New Orleans Municipal
Auditorium for an estimated 14,000 spectators who paid to see the event. The
couple was only married for ten weeks before Williams' reckless lifestyle
caught up with him. On New Year's Eve, 1952, he was riding in the back seat of
his chauffeured Cadillac to a show in Ohio .
Williams was heavily medicated and drunk when he died of an alcohol-induced heart
attack sometime during the night in Oak
Hill , West Virginia .
On January 1, 1953, Williams was pronounced dead. He was 29 years old.
Williams' funeral in Montgomery , Alabama ,
drew more than 20,000 mourners from all over the country. Country stars Ernest Tubb,
Roy Acuff, Red Foley, Carl Smith, and Webb Pierce sang in memory of their lost
friend. The Montgomery Advertiser reported (as noted in Country:
The Music and Musicians ) "They came from everywhere, dressed in
their Sunday best, babies in their arms, hobbling on crutches and canes,
Negroes, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, small children, and wrinkled faced old
men and women. Some brought their lunch."
Legal Wrangling
Almost immediately after Williams'
death, a battle over his estate broke out between the surviving members of the
family. Audrey Williams, Billie Jean Williams, and Williams' mother sued and
counter-sued for years. Lawsuits continued into the late 1980s between Hank
Williams, Jr., and the "lost daughter" of Hank Williams, Sr., who was
conceived during a short affair Williams had after his first wife threw him out
of the house. Jett Williams was born five days after her father's death. Like
her half brother, she later launched a singing career and hired several members
of her father's Drifting Cowboys to play backup.
Despite his excesses the controversy
regarding his estate, Williams could be proud of his musical legacy. In The
Illustrated History of Country Music, music legend Johnny Cash stated,
"Hank Williams is like a Cadillac. He'll always be the standard for
comparison." Williams' trademark hillbilly-tinged sound remains a country
music staple. In 1990, Poly Gram Records released a popular collection of every
known single he recorded. In 1998, famed auction house Christie's, auctioned
off one of his old Gibson guitars. The guitar fetched $112,000. Clearly,
Williams continues to lure fans.
The key to Williams' long-lasting
popularity "is passion," concluded Escott. "The entire range of
human emotions is within these recordings: love, hate, envy, joy, guilt,
despair, remorse, playfulness, sorrow, and more. The lyrics were simple, but
simplicity does not preclude meaning. In writing for the man who could barely
sign his name, Hank Williams wrote for us all." He cited some of Williams'
more poignant lyrics, noting: "There can be few who haven't felt as though
Hank Williams has read their mail, their diary, or their mind."
Further Reading
Brown, Charles T., Music U.S.A. : America 's Country and Western
Tradition, Prentice-Hall, 1986.
Country: The Music and the
Musicians, edited by Paul Kingsbury and Alan Axelrod, Country Music
Foundation, 1988.
Escott, Colin, Hank Williams: The
Biography, Little, Brown and Company, 1994.
The Illustrated History of Country
Music, edited by Patrick Carr, Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1979.
Williams, Jett, with Pamela Thomas, Ain't
Nothin' as Sweet as My Baby: The Story of Hank Williams' Lost Daughter,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
Williams, Roger M., Sing a Sad
Song: The Life of Hank Williams, University of Illinois
Press, 1981.
Forbes, March 9, 1998, p.
249.
"Hank Williams: The Complete
Website," http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/Opry/9132/
(February 12, 2000).
Hank Williams, Sr., "Welcome to
the Official Website of: Hank Williams, Sr.," http://www.cmgww.com/music/hank/
(February 12, 2000). □
Faces of Spina Bifida Magazine
Hank Williams, Sr.
December 29,
2011 Famous Faces
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