Born: September 17, 1923
Died: January 1, 1953 Place of Birth: Mount Olive, Alabama
Major Notes:
Hank Williams was one of the most significant composers of Country and Western music.
All his life Hank Williams had to deal with a spinal condition, which may have been spina bifida, that would keep him out of heavy physical work.
This condition meant that he could not play in normal kid games and he developed into being a loner.
His father was placed in a veterans' hospital when Williams was six and this added to his feeling of loneliness.
His mother was a church organist and bought a guitar for Williams when he was eight years old.
No doubt his mother initially gave Williams the sense of spirituality that would be in many of his songs.
Williams learned more about playing guitar and received his introduction to the blues from the street musician Rufus Payne.
Recognized for his poetic lyrics, by the age of 14 Williams had started playing on radio with "The Drifting Cowboys."
Williams began drinking in his early teens and alcoholism was to be a factor for later failures in his career.
In 1944 he married Audrey Mae Sheppard who gave some positive influence in his promotion as a singer.
Sheppard, now his manager, arranged a meeting with Fred Rose of Acuff-Rose Publishing who realized Williams had solid musical talent.
Rose released four songs, all moderately successful, which gave Hank Williams his first exposure to a wider audience.
This led to a recording contract with MGM Records in 1947 and Rose became his manager and producer.
By 1948, Williams had appeared on Louisiana Hayride and was accepted as an instant rising star.
In December of that year Hank Williams released a song, not written by himself, called "Lovesick Blues" that became a national hit.
By the middle of 1949, the song had sold over three million copies and Williams was invited to sing on the Grand Ole Opry show.
Williams released a number of narrative blues-type recordings under the name "Luke the Drifter" which showed some insight into his personal feelings.
Through the years 1949-1951, Williams was a tremendously successful star and had reached the cross-over status where many of his songs were hits in the
pop music genre.
Unfortunately, Hank Williams had an accident where he fell when he was out hunting, and his back pain started to bother him a lot.
That led to the addictive use of morphine and, coupled with alcohol, caused the downfall of his marriage in 1952.
On January 1, 1953, while being chauffeured to a concert, Williams was found dead in the back seat having died of a heart attack.
Hank Williams wrote songs that are classics in the world of music and he was one of the first inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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