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Wayland D. Holyfield is a prominent American songwriter and leader in the songwriting community. His music has been regarded as a standard for “honest simplicity” in the Nashville writing community.
Harlan Perry Howard was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1981.
Dottie Rambo was an American gospel singer and songwriter. She was a Grammy winning solo artist and multiple Dove award-winning artist. Along with ex-husband Buck and daughter Reba, she formed the award-winning southern Gospel group, The Rambos. She wrote more than 2,500 songs, including her most notable, "The Holy Hills of Heaven Call Me", "He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need", "We Shall Behold Him", and "I Go To the Rock".
Jeffrey LeVasseur, known as Jeffrey Steele, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with recording his own material, Steele has become a prolific Nashville songwriter, having co-written more than 60 hit songs for such artists as Montgomery Gentry, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts, Billy Ray Cyrus, and others.
John Gregory Bettis is an American lyricist. He was originally part of the band Spectrum, which also featured Richard and Karen Carpenter. He wrote the lyrics for "Top of the World", a hit for both Lynn Anderson and The Carpenters. He wrote several more hits for The Carpenters, including "Only Yesterday", "Goodbye to Love" and "Yesterday Once More". He later wrote hits for other artists including Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Pointer Sisters, Diana Ross, Jennifer Warnes, Peabo Bryson, George Strait ("Heartland"), Ronnie Milsap, and Barbara Mandrell.
Robert John DiPiero is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 US number one hits and several Top 20 single for Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Pam Tillis, Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Bryan White, Billy Currington, Etta James, Delbert McClinton, Van Zant, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, and many others.
FAME Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the American music industry, FAME has produced many hit records and was instrumental in what came to be known as the Muscle Shoals sound. It was started in the 1950s by Rick Hall, known as the Founder of Muscle Shoals Music. The studio, owned by Hall until his death in 2018, is still actively operating. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 15, 1997, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The 2013 award-winning documentary Muscle Shoals features Rick Hall, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and the Muscle Shoals sound originally popularized by FAME.
"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in April 1981 as lead single from the album Barbara Mandrell Live. It featured an uncredited guest appearance by country artist George Jones. The song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in July 1981 and peaked at #14 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The song was nominated for 1981 Single of the Year by both the CMA and ACM Awards organizations.
Hugh Loring Prestwood is an American Hall of Fame songwriter, whose work is primarily in country music. He was discovered by Judy Collins, who gave him his first hit "Hard Time for Lovers", which was recorded in 1978. Prestwood has written number one songs for Randy Travis" Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart", which won BMI's Robert J. Burton award for Country Song of the Year. Prestwood’s song, “The Song Remembers When”, recorded by Trisha Yearwood, was picked as the Nashville Songwriters Association’s Song of the Year and also won a Prime Time Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics.
Spun Gold is the 13th solo studio album by American country artist Barbara Mandrell. The album was released in July 1983 on MCA Records and was produced by Tom Collins. Spun Gold produced two major hit singles on the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1983.
Roger Alan Murrah is a songwriter and independent music publisher who has written hits for artists including Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, Al Jarreau, and Alabama.
"Years" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in December 1979 as the second single from the album Just for the Record. The song was Mandrell's third number one on the country chart. It stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of ten weeks in the country top 40.
"Sleeping Single In a Double Bed" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in August 1978 as the first single from her album Moods.
"Wish You Were Here" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in August 1981 as the second and final single from her live album Barbara Mandrell Live. It peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and number 11 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.
Stan E. Munsey is an American songwriter and one of several writer-musicians to emerge from the Muscle Shoals, Alabama music scene. Munsey was born in Easton, Pennsylvania and spent a significant amount time during his early years in Sheffield, Alabama. He is noted as a musician and songwriter, with songs on major recordings that have sold more than 12 million worldwide. He has penned tunes for Alabama, Shenandoah, The Statler Brothers, Glen Campbell, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, The Kinleys, Butch Baker, Lorrie Morgan, Suzy Bogguss, Barbara Mandrell, Lee Greenwood, Jonathan Edwards, Mel McDaniel, Charly McClain, Wayne Massey, Ty Herndon, Collin Raye, John Michael Montgomery, Marty Raybon, and Marie Osmond.
Stephen Allen Davis is an American singer-songwriter. Many of his songs are credited as "Steve Davis". He has written 18 number one songs for various artists, including the single "Stand Beside Me" for country artist Jo Dee Messina, which spent three weeks atop the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and earned Davis a triple Million-Air certificate from BMI for the more than three million performances it has received. The album was also certified Triple Platinum.
Gary Steven Harrison is an American songwriter.
Rhonda Kye Fleming is an American singer/songwriter and music publisher working in Nashville, Tennessee. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009 and has won more than 42 BMI Awards, including BMI Songwriter of the Year for 3 consecutive years (1981–83). Fifteen of her compositions have achieved over one million performances each. Some of the most successful songs Fleming has written or co-written include: "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool", "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed", "Smoky Mountain Rain", "Roll On Mississippi", "Years", "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World", "Nobody","All Roads Lead to You", "Kansas City Lights", and "Give Me Wings". In 2012, she was an honoree of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Poets and Prophets series which honors songwriters deemed to have made a significant contribution to country music. The series featured an extended interview with Fleming before an audience at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and film clips, recordings, and photos of Fleming's life work and awards. Some of the artists who have recorded Fleming's songs are: Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, The Judds, Sylvia, Steve Wariner, Wynonna Judd, Joe Cocker, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Janis Ian, Michael Johnson, Tina Turner, Amy Grant, and Bette Midler.
Bernie Tom Collins is an American music producer and publisher in Nashville, Tennessee who has received three CMA Awards as Producer of the Year, and seven Grammy nominations. He produced a steady stream of country music hits over a 30-year span from artists including Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, Sylvia, Tom T. Hall, Jim Ed Brown, James Galway, Marie Osmond, and Steve Wariner. Collins served as Chairman of the Board of the CMA in 1979 and 1980.
References
- ↑ allmusic ((( Dennis Morgan > Songs > All Songs )))
- ↑ Dennis Morgan Archived 2010-07-16 at the Wayback Machine , Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame website]
- ↑ "BMI | Songview Search".
