Georgia Gibbs was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs first achieved acclaim in the mid-1950s interpreting songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later as a featured vocalist on a long list of radio and television variety and comedy programs. Her key attribute was tremendous versatility and an uncommon stylistic range from melancholy ballad to uptempo swinging jazz and rock and roll.
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1964.
Deborah Allen is an American country music singer, songwriter, and author. Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. She recorded the 1983 crossover hit "Baby I Lied", which reached No. 4 on the country chart and No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen has also written No. 1 singles for herself, Janie Fricke, and John Conlee; Top 5 hits for Patty Loveless and Tanya Tucker; and a Top 10 hit for The Whites.
Bobby Robinson was an American independent record producer and songwriter in New York City, most active from the 1950s through the mid-1980s.
The Temptin' Temptations is the third studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1965. The album includes several of the group's hits from 1965, and also includes a handful of singles that were not included on the Temptations' first 1965 album, The Temptations Sing Smokey. Among these are the 1964 singles "Girl " and "I'll Be in Trouble"; and the 1965 singles "Since I Lost My Baby", and "My Baby". Seven of the album's 12 tracks had previously been released as singles and their B-sides, though "My Baby" preceded the album only by a month.
Country USA was a 23-volume series issued by Time-Life Music during the late 1980s and early 1990s, spotlighting country music of the 1950s through early 1970s.
Alexander Emil Caiola was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of the biggest names in music during the 20th century, including Elvis Presley, Ray Conniff, Ferrante & Teicher, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Buddy Holly, Mitch Miller, and Tony Bennett.
Leavin' Town is Waylon Jennings' second album for RCA Victor, released in 1966. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard country albums chart.
Nashville Rebel is a box set by Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Nashville through Legacy Recordings in 2006. According to Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, it is "the first comprehensive, multi-label Waylon Jennings retrospective ever assembled," comprising ninety-two songs recorded between 1958 and 1994, with selections from the majority of the singer's recording career. The first track of the box set is the Buddy Holly-produced "Jole Blon," released in 1958, while the last is "I Do Believe," a song produced by Don Was that was included on The Highwaymen's 1995 release, The Road Goes on Forever. The other material on the box set covers Jennings' career chronologically, with songs ranging from his years on RCA's roster to later compositions from his short-lived stay at Epic Records; it ignores, however, the tracks from Jennings albums released on independent labels. The majority of the singer's charting singles are included in the package, as are collaborations such as "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" with Willie Nelson and "Highwayman" with The Highwaymen. A notable addition is the previously unreleased "The Greatest Cowboy of Them All," a 1978 duet with Johnny Cash which was later recorded by Cash alone for A Believer Sings the Truth (1979) and The Mystery of Life (1991); two others, "It's Sure Been Fun" and "People in Dallas Got Hair," had never been released in the United States. Nashville Rebel was released on four CDs, with a 140-page booklet and liner notes by Rich Kienzle and Lenny Kaye.
Time Out for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles is a 1969 album by Motown group The Miracles. It reached #25 on the Billboard Pop Album chart, and contains four pop top 40 singles – "Doggone Right", "Abraham, Martin & John", "Here I Go Again" and the top ten pop smash hit "Baby, Baby Don't Cry". Time Out also features covers of Motown songs such as "For Once in My Life" and the Robinson-penned songs "My Girl" and "The Composer". Miracles members Marv Tarplin, Pete Moore and Ronnie White were also co-writers on several of the album's tracks, along with Motown staff songwriters Al Cleveland, Ron Miller and Terry Johnson. Miracle Pete Moore also co-produced two of the album's tracks, a prelude to his later production of the Miracles' massively successful platinum-selling City of Angels album of a few years later. The Miracles' Time Out album was originally released on CD in 1986, and again in 2001 coupled with their album, Four in Blue.
Clinton Conger Ballard Jr. was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. He wrote two Billboard Hot 100 number one hits. The first was "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders in 1965. The second was the 1975 hit, "You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt. He wrote two UK number one singles, recorded by Jimmy Jones and The Hollies.
"Ev'ry Day of My Life" is a popular song written in 1954 by Al Jacobs and Jimmie Crane.
"Make Me Your Baby" is a song written by Helen Miller and Roger Atkins. The most successful recording was a hit for Barbara Lewis in 1965.
James Radcliffe was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer.
"Nobody But a Fool " is a song written by Bill Anderson and released as a single by American country artist Connie Smith. It was the second single spawned from her 1966 album Miss Smith Goes to Nashville and was produced by Bob Ferguson. The single was released in January 1966 by RCA Victor and peaked within the Top 5 on the Billboard Magazine country music singles chart, becoming her fifth Top 10 hit in a row.
Ben James Peters was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 68 of his songs and 6 of them went to #1 on the American country charts. Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.
You Lay So Easy on My Mind is the thirty-fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in November 1974 by Columbia Records. The idea for this LP was mentioned in an interview with Williams in the November 3, 1973, issue of Billboard magazine that emphasized his desire to move away from recording albums of Easy Listening covers of hits by other artists, noting that he was "planning an album to be cut in Nashville with Columbia's high-flying country-pop producer, Billy Sherrill." The article coincided with the release of his first attempt to shift directions, Solitaire, which performed poorly. A return to the Easy Listening hits formula, The Way We Were, followed in the spring of 1974 but failed to even chart, so this next attempt to eschew soft rock songs leaned heavily on Country hits.
Henry Earl Sinks, known professionally as Earl Sinks, was an American singer-songwriter and actor, known by many pseudonyms. He led a prolific musical and acting career from the 1950s to the 1990s before retiring. He was best known for his long music career, including his brief tenure as lead singer of the Crickets from 1958 to 1960, and for his acting roles in numerous low budget movies and TV shows in the 60s.
The discography of American country artist Wilma Burgess consists of seven studio albums, one compilation album, twenty eight singles, and one other charted song. Graduating college in 1960, Burgess moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a singing career. She cut her first single with United Artists Records in 1962 which had little success. Producer Owen Bradley was impressed by Burgess's vocals, signing her to a recording contract with Decca Records. In 1965, the Ray Griff-penned composition "Baby" became Burgess's breakthrough single, reaching the top ten on the Hot Country Singles chart. It was followed by a cover of Jeannie Seely's "Don't Touch Me", which reached the top twenty of the country chart. Her debut album which was also entitled Don't Touch Me (1965) and reached number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
