This month's male country artist of the month is a man who deserves more credit than he's been given. He is Conway Twitty and many of today's major country artists give him credit as being the example.
Conway Twitty was born September 1, 1933 in the small Mississippi town of Friar's Point. His father was a riverboat pilot on the mighty Mississippi and taught Conway his first chords on the guitar at the age of four. Six years later, young Harold's family had moved to Helena, Arkansas and at age 10, Harold formed his first band, The Phillips County Ramblers.
Two years later, Conway had his own radio show every Saturday morning and began playing baseball. He was so good, in fact, that he was offered a deal to play professional baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies. That dream wasn't meant to be, however, as Uncle Sam called and that was the end of the professional baseball career.
When Harold came out of the service, he heard "Mystery Train" by Elvis Presley and was smitten by the Rockabilly bug. He began writing original rock and roll music and went to Sam Phillips' Sun Studios, home of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and others, but his star power didn't soar in rockabilly or his beloved country music. "It's Only Make Believe" was a rock hit and made him a teen idol with dozens of top 10 hits.
Conway's desire to perform country never died, however, and eight years later, he decided to give country a try. "I thougt I'd lived long enough to compete with my heroes (Hank Williams, Ray Price, and Faron Young) and that I could do justice to a country song," he said in an interview. And do justice, he did.
He began his country career with MCA/Decca records and Owen Bradley in 1965 and by the early 1970s had scored 4 straight #1 hits. By the mid-70s, his string of hits went to 23 successive singles to hit #1. In 1982, he had amassed 38 #1 hits and had an amazing 50 #1 hits in his career, a milestone that not even Elvis, his hero Hank Williams, or the Beatles could surpass.
Conway left MCA and moved to Warner Bros. and Elektra with a string of #1s. His 50th #1 hit was "Don't Call Him a Cowboy" in 1985. In 1987, Conway again returned to MCA and co-produced with his wife Dee Henry. His MCA homecoming was marked with another #1 hit, "Julia" and was followed by "Saturday Night Special" and "Still in Your Dreams." His 1990 album "Crazy In love" was released and the title song immediately became a hit, staying on the charts for 5 months.
In June, 1993, while performing in Branson, Missouri, Conway became ill and died enroute to Nashville of an abdominal aneurysm on June 5, 1993. The voice that was a song's best friend had been halted, but his legacy lives on in his music that he both wrote and performed. Conway Twitty can still be heard singing his signiture tune to millions..."Hello DARLIN'.........." Conway, we miss you!!!