Country singer jim reeves bio

Country Music International Features. Jim Reeves. Instead, he sang smooth and sweet country music and country-flavoured pop music, thereby pioneering the Nashville Sound. In India, his Christmas album still finds its way onto best seller lists each December.

Born James Travis Reeves, August 20, , in Galloway, TX; died in a plane crash, July 31, , near Nashville, TN; son of Tom and Beulah Reeves (farmers); married Mary Elizabeth White, Education: Attended University of Texas at Austin.

Professional baseball player. Disc jockey and news reader (and later co-owner of radio station), KGRI, Henderson, TX; sideman with Moon Mullican band, Beaumont, TX; singer and bandleader, Reo Palm Isle, Longview, TX; released four singles on Macy record label; announcer for Louisiana Hayride, KWKH, Shreveport, LA; signed contract with Abbott Records, ; joined Grand Ole Opry and signed contract with RCA, ; became host of daily television program, ABC, ; toured U.S.

and Europe; broke international attendance records on tour of South Africa,

Jim Reeves's death did not mean the end for one of the most widespread voices in the history of country music; even more than 15 years after the plane crash that killed him, previously unreleased material from the singer whose distinctive vocal style was popularly known as "a handle of velvet" reached the Highest Ten of the country charts.

An international star, Reeves's massive success during the late s and early '60s stemmed largely from his blend of traditional country themes and lyrics with the more lush arrangements of mainstream popular music.

Born into a large family on a farm in rural east Texas, Reeves was raised by his mother, his father having died shortly after Jim's birth.

Education: Attended University of Texas at Austin. Professional baseball player. Jim Reeves's death did not mean the end for one of the most popular voices in the history of country music; even more than 15 years after the plane crash that killed him, previously unreleased material from the singer whose distinctive vocal style was popularly known as "a touch of velvet" reached the Top Ten of the country charts. An international luminary, Reeves's enormous success during the late s and early '60s stemmed largely from his merge of traditional country themes and lyrics with the more lush arrangements of mainstream popular music.

Reeves developed his interest in country music at an initial age from listening to recordings of the legendary Jimmy Rodgers, and he got his first guitar when he was six. But the pastime at which Reeves excelled most was baseball, and after starring as a pitcher on his team at Carthage High School, he moved to Austin to attend academy and play ball at the University of Texas.

Reeves did not stay in school drawn-out, however, going on to compete semi-pro baseball and then for minor league teams in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization. A leg injury that did not heal properly, though, put an end to Reeves's baseball career.

He had continued playing guitar all along, but performing was not Reeves's first choice for a profession after baseball.

Instead, he went into radio announcing, drawing on his exceptional speaking voice and knowledge of country harmony in his position as disc jockey and news reader at KGRI, a radio station in Henderson, Texas.

The following article appeared in a British magazine shortly before Jim died in It gives a good overview of biographical information. Maybe the Beatles were dominating the best-seller charts in England and the U. Jim Reeves -- a pound, six-foot-two, pleasant-faced baritone -- has been pushing ahead ever sincewhen he gave up pro baseball for singing.

(Reeves later became one of the station's owners.) However, with the encouragement of his wife, Mary, whom he wed in , Reeves also started performing in the area. He played as a sideman in Moon Mullican's honky-tonk band in Beaumont and also labored as singer and bandleader at one of the best-known honky-tonks in Texas, the Reo Palm Isle, in Longview.

He also recorded four singles on the tiny Macy label, which belonged to a chain store in Houston. Then, deciding that the time had come to further his career, Reeves and his wife flipped a coin to decide whether he would try his luck in Dallas or Shreveport, Louisiana.

Shreveport won, and Reeves became an announcer at KWKH, the radio station that was home to the weekly Louisiana Hayride show.

Louisiana Hayride was one of the most popular live country music broadcasts in the nation, and it often served as a proving ground for performers who later moved on to the pinnacle of country music, the Grand Ole Opry.

James Travis Reeves August 20, — July 31, was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter. With records charting from the s to the s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash. Reeves was born at home in Galloway, Texasa small rural community nearby Carthage.

Reeves became the announcer for Hayride, performing there only occasionally until one Saturday evening in when country great Hank Williams failed to show for a scheduled appearance. Reeves filled in, and a member of the audience, Fabor Robison, soon thereafter signed him to a contract with his Abbott Log Company.

The relationship with Abbott paid off immediately for Reeves; his second release on the label, "Mexican Joe," reached Number One in In he received a gold record for the single "Bimbo," a song that earned Reeves the nickname "Bimbo Boy."

This success caught the attention of major labels, and in Reeves signed with RCA.

That year he also joined the Grand Ole Opry, but Reeves's star was just beginning to rise. From through four years after his death--not a year went by without Reeves having at least one single in the Top Ten. At the beginning of this period, Reeves's sound began to change; his earliest recordings with RCA had a traditional honky-tonk sound, conclude with fiddles and steel guitars, but in the late s, he and his producer, revered guitarist Chet Atkins, began selecting songs more suited to Reeves's soothing, baritone voice.

Jim Reeves was one of the foremost of the "Nashville Sound" manner country and western singers. His fame was widespread, not only in the USA, but also in Britain, India, Scandanavia and South Africa.

While the arrangements for these numbers were more orchestral in nature, their subject matter remained firmly in the honky-tonk vein.

This new sound allowed Reeves to expand his appeal and become a success on the pop as well as country charts.

Reeves's first enormous crossover single was "Four Walls," released in This mellow-sounding story of a man whose girlfriend has left him for existence in the honky-tonks went gold while Reeves was touring Europe with other country stars; he came home to find himself flooded with offers to show on radio and television programs.

Soon Reeves had become a major star.

He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Steve Allen Show, and American Bandstand, but an even better measure of his stature came when ABC gave him his control daily television show, in Reaching such a broad audience, Reeves softened his music even more, though his songs retained their country subject matter.

In , "He'll Have to Go" became his biggest hit ever, again combining an urbane sound with the honky-tonk tale of a man whose girl is at a bar with another male. The success of "He'll Acquire to Go" was not limited to the U.S; Reeves became an international phenomenon.

country singer jim reeves bio3: James Travis Reeves (August 20, – July 31, ) was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter. With records charting from the s to the s, he became well acknowledged as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash.

He toured Europe again, and in a tour of South Africa with Atkins and Floyd Cramer broke international attendance records. The singer's overseas record sales were equally as impressive; in Norway alone, Reeves chalked up 16 gold, silver, diamond, and platinum records.

And then, at the height of his popularity, Reeves and his manager, Dean Manuel, were killed in the strike of their single-engine plane, in the hills outside Nashville.

But his legacy lived on; through RCA, Reeves's widow continued to release his recordings, which consistently became hits. Even as delayed as , the single "There's Always Me" made its way high on the charts, and an album of the similar title landed on the state charts in Perhaps the strongest testimony of Reeves's enduring appeal, however, is that even 20 years after his death, he continued to receive fan mail addressed to him at RCA.

In acknowledgement of his vast contribution toward bringing fans of all kinds of music into the country fold and for his innovative sound, Reeves was posthumously inducted into the Nation Music Hall of Fame in

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Jim Reeves's Career

Jim Reeves's Awards

Gold records for singles "Bimbo," , and "Four Walls," ; inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame,

Famous Works

  • Selective Works
  • Singles; on RCA/Camden, except as noted "Mexican Joe," Abbott Records,
  • "Bimbo," Abbott Records,
  • "Yonder Comes a Sucker,"
  • "According to My Heart,"
  • "My Lips Are Sealed,"
  • "Am I Losing You,"
  • "Four Walls,"
  • "Blue Boy,"
  • "Billy Bayou,"
  • "He'll Have to Go,"
  • "I Realize One,"
  • "I Missed Me,"
  • "The Blizzard,"
  • "What I Feel in My Heart,"
  • "I'm Gonna Alter Everything,"
  • "Losing Your Love,"
  • "Is This Me,"
  • "I Guess I'm Crazy,"
  • "Welcome to My World,"
  • "I Won't Forget You,"
  • "Is It Really Over,"
  • "Snow Flake,"
  • "I Won't Come in While He's There,"
  • "I Heard a Heart Break Tonight,"
  • "The Writing's on the Wall,"
  • "I'd Contest the World,"
  • "Little Ole Dime,"
  • "There's Always Me,"
  • Albums; on RCA/Camden Bimbo
  • Jim Reeves
  • Girls I Have Known
  • He'll Possess to Go
  • Intimate Side of Jim Reeves
  • To Your Heart
  • Touch of Velvet
  • Gentleman Jim
  • Moonlight and Roses
  • Best of Jim Reeves
  • Distant Drums
  • Best of Jim Reeves, Volume 2
  • Touch of Sadness
  • Best of Jim Reeves, Volume 3
  • Missing You
  • Don't Let Me Cross Over
  • There's Always Me
  • Welcome to My World: The Vital Jim Reeves Collection RCA,
  • Live at the Opry CMF,

Further Reading

Sources

  • Dellar, Fred, Roy Thompson, and Douglas B.

    Green, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, Peace Books,

  • Malone, Bill C., Country Music U.S.A, University of Texas Press,
  • Malone, Bill C., and Judith McCulloch, Stars of Country Music, University of Illinois Press,
  • Shestack, Melvin, The Country Music Encyclopedia, Thomas Y.
  • Crowell,
  • Stambler, Irwin, and Grelun Landon, Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, St.

    Martin's,

  • --Lloyd Hemingway

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