Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Country icon Merle Kilgore dies at age 70
From The Tennessean
Had Merle Kilgore only been a bit player in country music history — had he never co-written Ring of Fire with June Carter or managed Hank Williams Jr. to great career heights — he would still have been one of Nashville's great characters.
A remarkable teller of stories and writer of songs, Mr. Kilgore died last night of congestive heart failure in Mexico, where he had been undergoing cancer treatments. He was 70.
Born Wyatt Merle Kilgore in Chickasha, Okla., Mr. Kilgore grew up in Shreveport, La. He often hung around the Louisiana Hayride radio show, where he introduced himself to numerous performers including Hank Williams.
At age 18, Mr. Kilgore wrote his first hit song: Country star Webb Pierce covered his More and More and turned it into a No. 1 hit in 1954. Pierce also saw promise in Mr. Kilgore as an artist and helped him get a contract with Imperial Records. Mr. Kilgore augmented his artistry with work as a disc jockey and a songwriter. He wrote the Johnny Horton hit Johnny Reb, and he scored a top 10 solo hit on Mercury Records with Love Has Made You Beautiful.
Mr. Kilgore is survived by his wife, Judy; sons, Steve and Duane Kilgore; daughters, Pam Compton, Kim Pomeroy and Shane McBee; eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Read the article
The Tennessean
Had Merle Kilgore only been a bit player in country music history — had he never co-written Ring of Fire with June Carter or managed Hank Williams Jr. to great career heights — he would still have been one of Nashville's great characters.
A remarkable teller of stories and writer of songs, Mr. Kilgore died last night of congestive heart failure in Mexico, where he had been undergoing cancer treatments. He was 70.
Born Wyatt Merle Kilgore in Chickasha, Okla., Mr. Kilgore grew up in Shreveport, La. He often hung around the Louisiana Hayride radio show, where he introduced himself to numerous performers including Hank Williams.
At age 18, Mr. Kilgore wrote his first hit song: Country star Webb Pierce covered his More and More and turned it into a No. 1 hit in 1954. Pierce also saw promise in Mr. Kilgore as an artist and helped him get a contract with Imperial Records. Mr. Kilgore augmented his artistry with work as a disc jockey and a songwriter. He wrote the Johnny Horton hit Johnny Reb, and he scored a top 10 solo hit on Mercury Records with Love Has Made You Beautiful.
Mr. Kilgore is survived by his wife, Judy; sons, Steve and Duane Kilgore; daughters, Pam Compton, Kim Pomeroy and Shane McBee; eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Read the article
The Tennessean
# posted by Dave Sichak @ 9:29 PM 
