Died On This Date (June 30, 2001) Chet Atkins / Country Music Icon
themusicsover Chet Atkins
June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001
Chet Atkins was one of the most influential musicians to come out of Nashville. And yet, he was much more than that. Atkins worked on the business side as well, spending some time as an artist manager as well as Vice President of RCA Records‘ country division where he remarkably signed Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Bobby Bare, Connie Smith and Jerry Reed to name just a few. As a producer, Atkins made hits for Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Eddy Arnold, Waylon Jennings and many more. The sounds he created on record are credited as being one of the foundations of what would become known as the Nashville Sound. Atkins’ style of playing was itself influenced by the great Merle Travis and is one of the most difficult sounds to imitate, earning him the nickname, “Mister Guitar.” Over the course of his career, Atkins won fourteen Grammys, nine Country Music Association awards, and the Billboard Century award. He was also inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, invited to the White House to play for every president from Kennedy to Bush Sr., and had a stretch of highway in Georgia named after him. Atkins died of cancer on June 30, 2001.
What You Should Own
Johnny Mercer was a popular songwriter whose many songs made stars out of their singers during the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. He gave us such standards as “Days Of Wine And Roses,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Day In, Day Out,” and “Hooray For Hollywood” to name just a few. Mercer moved to Hollywood in 1935 and became one if the most in-demand songwriters in film. In 1942 he along with Buddy DeSylva and Glen Wallichs started Capitol Records where I used to work. In 1975, Mercer learned he had an inoperable brain tumor which lead to his death on June 25, 1976.
Francis Dreyfus was a successful French music producer, publisher and label head for many years. As a publisher, he signed the likes of Cat Stevens, David Bowie, and Pink Floyd to his Francis Dreyfus Music. He mostly specialized on electronic and jazz music on his labels, Disques Dreyfus, Disques Motors, and Dreyfus Jazz. His most notable discovery was electronic pioneer, Jean-Michel Jarre. Dreyfus published his first recordings and released his groundbreaking Oxygene on his label. Other notable artists he signed over the years included jazz greats, Marcus Miller and Alan Stivell. He was also a one-time president of SPPF, a French rights society. His was the father of popular French actress, Julie Dreyfus. Francis Dreyfus was 69 when he passed away on June 24, 2010.