George Hamilton IV

Proclaimed the International Ambassador of Country Music thanks to his performances around the world during the 1970s, George Hamilton IV began his career in the late '50s not as a country artist but as a teen-oriented pop star. After his first hit, "A Rose and a Baby Ruth," hit number six on the pop charts in 1956, he toured with Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers but cracked the pop Top Ten only one more time. Instead, Hamilton moved to the country charts by 1959, where nine of his hits spent time in the Top Ten, including his only number one, "Abilene."

Though he began in pop, Hamilton's primary interest in country music stretched back all the way to his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Born July 19, 1937, George Hamilton IV was raised on the Westerns of Gene Autry and began playing guitar at the age of 12. He formed a country band in high school and while still a freshman at the University of South Carolina, he met John D. Loudermilk, then a struggling songwriter. With a contract in hand from the Colonial label, Hamilton recorded "A Rose and a Baby Ruth," Loudermilk's attempt at approximating rockabilly music. The single did well regionally during 1956, and was picked up by ABC-Paramount later that year. After it hit number six on the pop charts, ABC signed Hamilton to a regular contract.

Somewhat uncomfortable on the pop charts, Hamilton never equalled the success of "A Rose and a Baby Ruth." The 1957 single "Why Don't They Understand" barely made the Top Ten, and his 1958 inspirational record The Teen Commandments -- recorded with Paul Anka and Johnny Nash -- stalled at number 29. After appearing on The Jimmy Dean Show during 1957-1958, Hamilton was given his own show by ABC-TV in 1959; it ended before the year was out.

After the failure of his own show, Hamilton joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1959, making his claim to country audiences more sincere by not affecting the Western trappings of most country artists. His first entry on the country charts ("Before This Day Ends") made number four in late 1960. One year later, Hamilton was signed to RCA Victor by Chet Atkins. After Top Ten entries in 1961 ("Three Steps to the Phone [Millions of Miles]") and 1962 ("If You Don't Know I Ain't Gonna Tell You"), Hamilton hit it big in 1963 with "Abilene." The single, his second to be written by John D. Loudermilk, topped the country charts for four weeks in June and crossed over to number 15 on the pop charts. During 1964, Hamilton charted three singles and returned to the Top Ten with "Fort Worth, Dallas or Houston."

Increasingly inspired by folk music during 1965, Hamilton began recording the songs of Gordon Lightfoot; both "Steel Rail Blues" and "Early Morning Rain" hit the country Top 15 during 1966, and Hamilton went on to record more Gordon Lightfoot songs than any other artist. "Urge for Going" (written by another folkie, Joni Mitchell) hit number seven in 1967 and "Break My Mind" did the single one better later in the year. He continued to record for RCA until 1974, but chart success largely eluded him -- except for the number-three hit "She's a Little Bit Country" in 1970.

Undaunted by his lack of domestic success, Hamilton took country music around the world during the '70s. Besides more than ten tours of Great Britain and several BBC-TV productions, he hosted the Gospel Celebration and the International Country Festival, both of which were held in England. In 1973, he organized the longest international tour ever by a country artist, doing 73 shows over a period of three months. One year later, Hamilton became the first country artist to perform behind the Iron Curtain, where he lectured about country music as well as playing shows (one Czechoslovakian concert even featured a Czech country group backing him). Besides Europe, he toured Africa, the Orient, New Zealand, Australia, and even the Middle East during the late '70s.

Signed to ABC-Dot in 1976, Hamilton just barely made the country charts several times during 1977-1978. Since then, he has concentrated on gospel recordings, for both Word and Lion & Lamb. His son, George Hamilton V, toured with his father's backup band and charted a single during 1988.

from Wikipedia:

George Hege Hamilton IV (born July 19, 1937) is an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, later switching to country music in the early 1960s.

Biography

Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. On June 18, 1956, while a 19-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton recorded "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for Chapel Hill record label, Colonial Records. The song, written by John D. Loudermilk, climbed to No. 6 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. By 1960, "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" had attained gold record status for ABC-Paramount (which had acquired the song from Colonial). The self-penned B-side of the record, "If You Don't Know", revealed Hamilton's ambitions to be a rockabilly-country singer. In late 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, Tennessee to further his work as a country musician. On February 8, 1960, Hamilton officially became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Later that same year, he began recording for RCA Records, having been signed by Chet Atkins.

Hamilton's breakthrough hit was the 1961 song "Before this Day Ends". His biggest hit came two years later with "Abilene", another song penned by Loudermilk. The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's country singles chart and reached the Top 20 of the Hot 100. The success of "Abilene" was followed with the song "Fort Worth, Dallas Or Houston" (a Top 5 hit in late 1964).

By the mid-1960s, Hamilton's music began showing a decidedly folk influence. This was especially evident with 1966's "Steel Rail Blues" and "Early Morning Rain" (both by Gordon Lightfoot), and 1967's "Urge for Going". Another 1967 hit was "Break My Mind" (by John D. Loudermilk). One more Hamilton song of this genre was a moderate hit in 1969—the Ray Griff penned "Canadian Pacific". His last Top 5 single came in 1970, with "She's a Little Bit Country".

After his American chart success declined in the early 1970s, Hamilton began touring the world, across the Soviet Union, Australia, the Middle East and East Asia. These widely-acclaimed international performances earned Hamilton the nickname The International Ambassador of Country Music. He also hosted several successful television programs in the UK and Canada during the 1970s, and in the 1990s he played himself in the West End musical, Patsy, based on the life of Patsy Cline.

In 2004, he recorded an acoustic gospel album with producer Dave Moody entitled On a Blue Ridge Sunday which earned Hamilton a Dove Award nomination in the "Best Bluegrass Album of the Year" category by the members of the Gospel Music Association. A single from the album, "Little Mountain Church House", won nominee recognition in the "Best Bluegrass Recorded Song" category the following year.

Hamilton is still a regular at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and in country shows throughout the US and the UK. He mainly concentrates on gospel tours both at home and abroad. In 2007 he collaborated with Live Issue, a group from Northern Ireland, to record a live album based on the life of Joseph Scriven, who wrote the hymn, "What A Friend We Have in Jesus". The two also toured together again in 2009. That same year, Hamilton released a parody of his classic hit "Abilene" in the height of the soaring US gas prices called "Gasoline." He has also been a regular participant in the Country's Family Reunion video series.

In 2010, Lamon Records released the album Old Fashioned Hymns, recorded transatlantic with producers Dave Moody in Nashville and Colin Elliott in Ireland. Hamilton was joined on the 28-track collection by a number of musical guests, including Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Gail Davies, Pat Boone, Del McCoury, Bill Anderson, Connie Smith, Tommy Cash, Cliff Barrows, George Beverly Shea and many others.