Died On This Date (October 7, 2009) Shelby Singleton / Record Producer; Owned Sun Records
themusicsover Shelby Singleton
December 16, 1931 – October 7, 2009
Shelby Singleton’s music career began during the ’50s working at Mercury Records as a producer. While moving up in the ranks, he became instrumental in numerous hits and was eventually rewarded with his own imprint, Smash Records where he signed Jerry Lee Lewis, Roger Miller and Faron Young among others. During the early part of his career, he produced such hits as Brook Benton’s “The Boll Weevil Song,” Ray Stevens‘ “Ahab The Arab,” and Leroy Van Dyke’s “Walk On By.” But his biggest hit came in 1968 with Jeannie C. Riley’s recording of Tom T. Hall’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.” A shrewd businessman as well, Singleton went on to purchase Sam Phillips’ Sun Records including it’s stellar catalog of recordings. Shelby Singleton died of cancer on October 1, 2009. He was 77.
Known since the 1930s as the Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry was country singer-songwriter and cowboy actor. Signing to Columbia Records in 1929, Autry began releasing what were called “hillbilly” music in the early ’30s. Over the course of his career, Autry made over 600 records, roughly half either co-written, or written by himself. Besides his signature song, “Back in the Saddle Again,” Autry best remembered for “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and the self-written, “Here Comes Santa Claus.” Besides making nearly 100 films, Autry successfully transitioned to television during the ’40s, starring in his own show on CBS. Autry also owned several California radio stations as well as Major League Baseball team, the California Angels. Forbes Magazine included him in annual list of the 400 richest Americans for many years. Gene Autry died of lymphoma at the age of 91.
Patrick Bourque was best known as the one-time bassist for Canadian country band, Emerson Drive. Finding moderate success as 12 Guage in and around Alberta, the band soon changed its name to Emerson Drive and moved to Nashville where they landed a deal with DreamWorks. The band released a series of country hits and added Bourque to the band in 2002. Within a couple of years they were opening for the likes of Shania Twain. But in August of 2007, Bourque left the band for an undisclosed reason. Just one month later, he was found dead in his Montreal home. Initial reports indicated that he committed suicide.
Gram Parsons was a highly influential singer-songwriter who helped launch what would later be called country rock and then alt-country or Americana. Parsons began playing the guitar as a teenager to escape a less than ideal home life. The first group he played with, the Shilohs, were a folk band in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. When the band broke up, he and other Boston area folk musicians formed the International Submarine Band with whom he began to develop a sound the borrowed the best from country, folk and rock. They enjoyed moderate success, primarily getting airplay on the up-and-coming progressive radio stations. In 1968, Parsons was asked to join the Byrds as a replacement for David Crosby and Michael Clarke. He started on keyboards but soon switched to guitar, helping guide the group down a more country rock path. Parsons left the Byrds in the summer of 1968. He joined back up with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman soon after to form the Flying Burrito Brothers whose debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin would be a direct influence on the likes of the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam and later, Wilco and Ryan Adams. By the early ’70s, Parsons was working as a solo artist while recording and performing with good friend, Emmylou Harris. It was during this period that Parsons’ inner demons were taking control in the form of substance abuse. He was also spending more and more time in an area he had become fond of, Joshua Tree National Monument in the desert outside of Los Angeles. He liked to go there and take LSD while searching for UFOs. It was during one of these trips that Gram Parsons apparently overdosed on morphine and alcohol and died at the age of 26.