Conway Twitty

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Conway Twitty promotional photograph from the 1970s

Conway Twitty, born Harold Jenkins, (June 5, 1933 - June 5, 1993) was a United States rock and roll and country music singer.

Twitty was born in the small town of Friars Point, Mississippi. His family moved to Helena, Arkansas when he was 10, and there he put together his first band, the Phillips County Rambles. Two years later, he had his own local radio show every saturday morning. While in Arkansas, Twitty indulged his second passion, baseball. He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school but he joined the United States Army instead.

After his discharge from the Army, Twitty again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train," he began writing original rock 'n' roll material. As a matter of course, he headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and worked with the likes of Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and many others. He changed his name in 1957, taking the names from two towns in Arkansas. The character of Conrad Birdie in the musical Bye Bye Birdie is said to be based loosely on a combination of Twitty and Presley.

Twitty didn't try rockabilly like some of his cohorts. Instead , he scored his first hit with a teen ballad, "It's Only Make Believe," on MGM in 1958, making him a teen idol of the day. Eight years and three gold records later, he began his country career with MCA/Decca in 1965, and by the early 1970s, he had scored four straight No. 1 hits including "Hello Darlin'." Many of them, featuring his signature growling vocal style, especially endeared him to female listeners. In 1971, he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire IS Gone," followed by "Lead Me On" in 1971, "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" in 1973 and "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone" in 1974.

Together, they won four consecutive Country Music Association awards for vocal duo, but Twitty never won a solo CMA award. Yet, by the end of his tenure at MCA in 1981, he had accumulated 32 No. 1 hits. Another 15 had reached the Top. Twitty became ill while performing in Branson, Missouri, and he died from an abdominal aneurysm. Shortly before he died, he had recorded a new album, suitably called Final Touches. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

Conway Twitty became ill while performing in Branson, Missouri, and was in pain while he was on the tour bus. He died June 5, 1993 in Springfield Missouri at Cox South Hospital from an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

After his discharge from the Army, Jenkins again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley's song, "Mystery Train", he began writing rock 'n' roll material. As a matter of course, he headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, owner and founder of Sun Studios, to get the "right" sound.

Source of stage name

Jenkins felt that his real name wasn't marketable, and he changed his show business name in 1957. (Harold Lloyd Jenkins would always remain his legal name, however). Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. Thus, he went with the professional name of "Conway Twitty".

Alternatively, Jenkins met a Richmond, VA, man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant. The manager served in the army with the real Conway Twitty. Later, the manager suggested to Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it. The Richmond Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song, "What's in a Name But Trouble," in the mid-1960s, lamenting the loss of his name to Jenkins. The flip side of the 45 RPM record was "The One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater." ( The more well known version of Purple People Eater, however, now having sold over 100,000,000 copies was recorded by Sheb Wooley )

First successes

"It's Only Make Believe" was recorded in 1958 and became the first of nine Top 40 hits for Twitty, selling eight million copies. The song was written between sets by Conway and drummer Jack Nance when they were in Hamilton, Ontario playing at the Flamingo Lounge.^[1]

Rock successes

Twitty's fortunes changed in 1958, while he was with MGM Records. An Ohio radio station did not play "I'll Try", an MGM single that went basically nowhere in terms of sales, radio play, and jukebox play, instead playing the "B side" of the single. The B side was a song called "It's Only Make Believe". It was popular in Ohio, and was gradually becoming popular throughout the country, as well.

For a brief period in Twitty's music career, some believed that he was Elvis Presley recording under a different name. This was largely the case with "It's Only Make Believe." The record took nearly one year in all to reach and stay at the top spot of the charts. The song went on to sell over 8 million records and to No. 1 on the Billboard pop music charts in the U.S. as well as No. 1 in 21 different nations.

Twitty would go on to enjoy rock-n-roll success with a song like "Danny Boy" and "Lonely Blue Boy". "Lonely Blue Boy" was originally titled "Danny" and was recorded by Presley for the film King Creole It was not used in the film soundtrack.

Career in country music

Conway Twitty always wanted to record country music and — beginning in 1965 — he did just that. His first few country albums were met with country DJs refusing to play them because he was well known as a rock-n-roll singer. He finally broke free with his first number one country song, "Next In Line" in November 1968.

In 1970, Conway recorded and released his biggest hit ever, "Hello Darlin'" (which spent four weeks at the top of the country chart).

In 1971 he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone". It was a success, and many more followed, including "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), "Feelins" (1975), "I Still Believe in Waltzes", "I Can't Love You Enough" and many others. Together, Conway and Loretta (as they were known in their act), won four consecutive Country Music Association awards for vocal duo (1972-75).

In 1973, Twitty released "You've Never Been This Far Before", which was not only #1 in country for three weeks that September but also reached #22 on the pop charts. Some disc jockeys refused to play the song because of its suggestive lyrics.

In 1993, shortly before he died, he had recorded a new album, Final Touches.

Twitty's last chart appearance on the country charts was a duet with Anita Cochran, "I Want to Hear a Cheating Song" (2004). Twitty's voice was electronically created based on one of his hits from the 1980s.

Appearances in other media

On October, 2004 "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (sung by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn) appeared on the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional country music station K-ROSE.

On Family Guy episodes "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" and "Peter's Daughter", clips of Conway Twitty performing on Hee Haw were shown, because of their comic or perhaps ironic value to modern audiences.

Covers

While Twitty has been known to cover songs – most notably "Slow Hand" which was a major pop hit for the Pointer Sisters – his own songs have not been covered that often. However, four notable covers include George Jones' rendition of "Hello Darlin", Blake Shelton's "Goodbye Time", The Misfits version of "It's Only Make Believe" and Elvis Presley's version of "There's A Honky Tonk Angel".

Discography

1950s

1958 Conway Twitty Sings
1959 Saturday Night

1960s

1960 Lonely Blue Boy
1960 A Rock and Roll Story
1960 Greatest Hits
1961 The Conway Twitty Touch
1962 Portrait of a Fool
1964 Hit the Road

1966 Look Into My Teardrops
1966 Conway Twitty
1967 Country
1968 Next in Line
1968 Here's Conway Twitty
1969 Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie
1969 I Love You More Today
1969 You Can't Take Country Out of Conway

1970s

1970 Hello Darlin' (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1970 To See My Angel Cry
1970 That's When She Started To Stop Loving You
1970 Conway Twitty
1970 Fifteen Years Ago
1971 How Much More Can She Stand
1971 Hits
1971 I Wonder What She'll Think About Me Leaving
1971 Lead Me On (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1971 We Only Make Believe (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1972 Conway Twitty Sings the Blues
1972 I Can't See Me without You
1972 I Can't Stop Loving You
1972 Shake It Up
1972 Conway Twitty's Greatest Hits Vol.1 (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1973 Clinging to a Saving Hand
1973 I Can't Stop Loving You
1973 (Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date
1973 She Needs Someone to Hold Her
1973 Who Will Pray for Me
1973 You've Never Been This Far Before (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1973 I'm So Used To Loving You
1974 Country Partners
1974 Honky Tonk Angel
1974 I'm Not Through Loving You Yet
1974 Never Ending Song of Love
1975 Feelin'
1975 High Priest of Country Music
1975 Linda on My Mind
1975 Star Spangled Songs
1975 This Time I've Hurt Her More
1976 Conway Twitty's Greatest Hits Vol.2 (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1976 Now and Then
1976 Twitty
1976 United Talent
1977 Dynamic Duo
1977 I've Already Loved You in My Mind
1977 Play, Guitar Play
1978 Conway Twitty Country
1978 Conway
1978 Georgia Keeps Pulling On My Ring
1978 Honky Tonk Heroes
1978 The Very Best Of Conway Twitty (Certified Platinum by the RIAA)
1979 Country Rock
1979 Cross Winds
1979 Twain't Never Gonna Do It Again, Babe, Not In A Million Years"

1980s

1980 Diamond Duet
1980 Heart & Soul
1980 Rest Your Love on Me
1981 Mr. T
1981 Two's a Party
1982 Dream Maker
1982 Number Ones (Certified Gold by the RIAA)
1982 Southern Comfort
1983 Conway's #1 Classics, Vol. 2
1983 Lost in the Feeling
1983 Merry Twismas
1984 By Heart
1984 Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
1985 Chasin' Rainbows
1985 Don't Call Him a Cowboy
1986 A Night with Conway Twitty
1986 Fallin' for You for Years
1987 Borderline
1988 Making Believe
1988 Still in Your Dreams
1989 House on Old Lonesome Road

1990s

1990 Crazy in Love
1991 #1's, Vol. 2
1991 #1's, Vol. 1
1991 Even Now
1992 Country Gospel Greats
1993 Final Touches
1995 Sings Songs of Love
1996 Crazy Dreams

2000s

2002 Road That I Walk
2007 A Twismas Story

42 # 1 Hits

Conway Twitty had the most singles (55) reach Number 1 on various national music charts. Up until George Strait broke the record for most number 1's on the Billboard country chart with 43, Twitty had 42 (counting his pop number 1 with "It's Only Make Believe", and a B-sided country single). Most commonly thought of as a country music singer, he also enjoyed success in early Rock and Roll, R&B, and Pop music (among others).

It's Only Make Believe
Next In Line
I Love You More Today
To See My Angel Cry
Hello Darlin'
Fifteen Years Ago
After The Fire Is Gone (with Loretta Lynn)
How Much More Can She Stand
Lead Me On (with Loretta Lynn)
(Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date
I Can't Stop Loving You
She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries)
Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man (with Loretta Lynn)
You've Never Been This Far Before
There's A Honky Tonk Angel Who'll Let Me Back In
As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone (with Loretta Lynn)
I See The Want To In Your Eyes
Linda On My Mind
Touch The Hand
Feelin's (with Loretta Lynn)
This Time I Hurt Her More Than She Loves Me
After All The Good Is Gone
Games That Daddies Play
I Can't Believe She Gives It All To Me
Play Guitar Play
I've Already Loved You In My Mind
Don't Take It Away
I May Never Get To Heaven
Happy Birthday Darlin'
I'd Love To Lay You Down
I Am The Dreamer (You Are The Dream)
Rest Your Love On Me
Tight Fittin' Jeans
Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night
The Clown
Slow Hand
The Rose
Somebody's Needin' Somebody
I Don't Know A Thing About Love (The Moon Song)
Ain't She Somethin' Else
Don't Call Him A Cowboy
Desperado Love

Films

External Links

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Conway Twitty.
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