Jerry Gillespie

For the politician, see Jerry Gillespie (politician).

Jerry Wayne Gillespie
Born	Decatur, Alabama, United States
Genres	Country music
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, record producer

Jerry Wayne Gillespie (born Decatur, Alabama) is an American country songwriter. He co-wrote "Do You Love as Good as You Look", a #1 song in 1981 for The Bellamy Brothers, ^[1] and wrote "Heaven's Just a Sin Away", a #1 country hit in 1977 for The Kendalls. He co-wrote "Somebody's Knockin'", a Grammy Award finalist in 1982 for Terri Gibbs, and "I Just Can't Stay Married to You", a #5 hit for Christy Lane in 1979.

He wrote or co-wrote a number of successful songs for Tommy Overstreet, including "Gwen (Congratulations)", co-written with Ricci Mareno, ^[2] a #5 country hit in 1971, and "That's When My Woman Begins ^[3] a #6 country hit in 1975. Gillespie also worked as a producer with Christy Lane, The Kendalls, and Micki Fuhrman. ^[4]

Gillespie's first music venture was with his cousin Gary in a Nashville-area teenaged rock band named "The Valiants". The band put out two singles in 1965-1966 with songs written by Gillespie. ^{[5] [6]}

Other Gillespie songs that charted

• "Catch the Wind" (Jerry Gillespie, Ricci Mareno) Jack Barlow, #26 Country, 1971
• "A Seed Before the Rose" (Jerry Gillespie, Ricci Mareno) ^[7] Tommy Overstreet, #16 Country, 1972
• "It'll Be Me" (Gillespie/Clement/Bourke) Tom Jones, #34 Country, 1983
• "You Really Go for the Heart" (Charles Black, Tommy Rocco, Jerry Gillespie) Dan Seals, #37 Country, 1983

• "We Just Gotta Dance" (Jerry Gillespie) Karen Taylor-Good, #66 Country, 1984
• "I Love You By Heart" (Jerry Gillespie, Stan Webb), Sylvia and Michael Johnson, #9 Country, 1985
• "She's Ready for Someone to Love Her" (Charles Black, Jerry Gillespie, Tommy Rocco) The Osmond Brothers, #67 Country, 1983. Also covered by Kenny Rogers and Jerry Reed
• "Baby Wants", The Osmond Brothers, #45 Country, 1986

"Heaven's Just a Sin Away" also charted in a minor way for Kelly Willis in 1993 (#63 Country). "Old Pictures" and "Dr. Dr." were written by Gillespie with K. T. Oslin, and appeared on her platinum-selling 1987 debut album 80s Ladies . His Christmas song "Blue Decorations" was covered by B. B. King on his 2001 Grammy-winning album A Christmas Celebration of Hope .

References

1. Alabama Music Hall of Fame entry for Gillespie (offline: Internet Archive page retrieved October 12, 2014)
2. "Gwen (Congratulations)" (Mareno-Gillespie), release details at 45cat.com, retrieved October 5, 2014; see also copyright details at ASCAP Archived 2013-03-06 at the Wayback Machine , Work ID: 370100426
3. "That's When My Woman Begins" (Gillespie), release details at 45cat.com, retrieved October 5, 2014; see also copyright details at SESAC, Song number: 151105
4. Billboard, Feb. 2, 1982, p. 62, "First Collaboration 'A Charm'"
5. https://www.wilsonpost.com/community/digging-the-moles/article_b5d343fa-1ba9-5c97-9cb8-ad96969a31d7.html "Digging 'The Moles'", Ken Beck, The Wilson Post, December 12, 2013
6. https://garagehangover.com/the-valiants-with-jerry-gillespie-dot-records/ "The Valiants with Jerry Gillespie on Dot Records", Chris Bishop, GarageHangover, January 30, 2019
7. "Seed Before The Rose" (Gillespie-Mareno), release details at 45cat.com, retrieved October 5, 2014; see also copyright details at ASCAP Archived 2013-03-06 at the Wayback Machine , Work ID: 490299059