Mel Tillis

All Music Guide:

In light of all the attention given Mel Tillis' infamous speech impediment -- he even named his autobiography Stutterin' Boy -- the polished, sincere vocal delivery and songwriting skills that first earned him fame were often lost in the shuffle; nonetheless, throughout the course of his many decades in country music, Tillis remained one of Nashville's most enduring personalities. Born Lonnie Melvin Tillis in Tampa, FL, on August 8, 1932, it is believed that his stuttering was the result of a bout with malaria at the age of three. As a child, he learned guitar, and in high school studied both the violin and the drums. At the age of 16, he first performed publicly at a local talent show, and after graduation he entered the military. While stationed in Okinawa, Japan, he formed a group called the Westerners, which played local clubs.

After exiting the service in 1955, Tillis went to college and held odd jobs until moving to Nashville the following year. He found little success as a writer or performer there and soon returned to Florida; then, in 1957, Webb Pierce reached number three with Tillis' composition "I'm Tired," earning the aspiring artist a songwriting contract with Pierce's Cedarwood Music. After playing with the likes of Minnie Pearl and Judy Lynn, Tillis cut his first single, a cover of the standard "It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song," in 1957; the B-side, the self-penned "Honky Tonk Song," quickly became a chart-topper for Pierce. After a few excursions into rock & roll territory, Tillis earned his first Top 40 hit with 1958's "The Violet and a Rose."

While Tillis continued to chart singles like 1959's "Finally" and a pair of duets with Bill Phillips, "Sawmill" and "Georgia Town Blues," his greatest success at the turn of the decade remained as a songwriter. He continued supplying Pierce with hit after hit, including the 1959 smashes "I Ain't Never" and "No Love Have I" along with 1962's "Crazy Wild Desire" and 1963's "Sawmill." Also covering Tillis' songs were Bobby Bare ("Detroit City"), Ray Price ("One More Time," "Burning Memories," "Heart Over Mind"), Stonewall Jackson ("Mary Don't You Weep"), and Little Jimmy Dickens ("The Violet and a Rose," also covered by Wanda Jackson). In 1962, Tillis released his first LP, Heart Over Mind; a year later, he teamed with Pierce for the hit "How Come Your Dog Don't Bite Nobody but Me."

In 1965, Tillis recorded his first Top 15 hit, "Wine." A string of successes followed, including 1966's "Stateside," "Life Turned Her That Way" (the title cut from his 1967 album), and his first Top Ten, 1968's "Who's Julie." At the same time, his stature as a songwriter continued to grow thanks to hit covers of his "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" (by both Johnny Darrell and Kenny Rogers & the First Edition) and "Mental Revenge" (Waylon Jennings). At the end of the 1960s, Tillis and his esteemed new backing band the Statesiders came into their own as performers; after two 1969 Top Ten hits, "These Lonely Hands of Mine" and "She'll Be Hanging Around Somewhere," he scored back-to-back Top Five hits in 1970 with "Heart Over Mind" and "Heaven Everyday." In 1971, he began a successful string of duets with Sherry Bryce which included "Take My Hand" and "Living and Learning," and he released the album Live at the Sam Houston Coliseum.

1972's "I Ain't Never" became his first chart-topper, and the remainder of the decade which followed was Tillis' most fertile period as an artist, as evidenced by a series of Top Five smashes like "Neon Rose," "Sawmill," "Midnight, Me and the Blues," "Stomp Them Grapes," and "Memory Maker." Between 1976 and 1980, he scored five more number ones -- "Good Woman Blues," "Heart Healer," "I Believe in You," "Coca Cola Cowboy," and "Southern Rains." He also appeared in a number of films, including 1975's W.W. and the Dancekings (with Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed), 1977's The Villain (starring Kirk Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger), Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way but Loose in 1979, and 1980's all-star Smokey and the Bandit II. Albums of the period included 1976's Love Revival and 1980's M-M-Mel Live, in addition to a series of hits compilations.

In 1981, Tillis recorded a duets album with Nancy Sinatra called Mel and Nancy, but like most of his work throughout the 1980s, it failed to repeat the success he had previously enjoyed. Although he continued to work in films (co-starring in both Cannonball Run pictures) and notched the occasional Top Ten hit (like 1981's "A Million Old Goodbyes" or 1983's "In the Middle of the Night"), his days as a superstar were over. Still, he remained a popular songwriter, especially among younger artists; his "Honey (Open That Door)" and "Diggin' Up Bones" were number one hits for, respectively, Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis. Tillis also continued as a successful road act, and in the early '90s, his daughter Pam became one of country's biggest stars. Tillis, aside from his obvious talents as a singer, and as an actor, is also a natural comedian-- his first comedy album, You Ain’t Gonna Believe This, was released in 2010 on Show Dog Records.

Wikipedia:

Lonnie Melvin Tillis (born August 8, 1932), known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits.

Tillis's biggest hits include "I Ain't Never", "Good Woman Blues", and "Coca-Cola Cowboy". On February 13, 2012 President Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts For his contributions to country music. He also has won the CMA Awards' most coveted award, Entertainer of the Year. He is also known for his speech impediment, which does not affect his singing voice. His daughter is country music singer Pam Tillis.

Biography

Early life

Tillis was born in Dover, Florida in 1932. His stutter developed during his childhood, a result of a bout with malaria. As a child, Tillis learned the drums as well as guitar. At age 16 he won a local talent show and soon joined the United States Air Force and worked for the railroad. When young Tillis was stationed in Okinawa, he formed a band called The Westerners, which played at local nightclubs. Tillis attended the University of Florida.

After leaving the military in 1955, Tillis worked a number of odd jobs and moved to Nashville, Tennessee the following year. Tillis wrote "I'm Tired", a #3 country hit for Webb Pierce in 1957. Other Tillis hits include "Honky Tonk Song" and "Tupelo County Jail". Ray Price and Brenda Lee also charted hits with Tillis's material around this time. In the late 1950s, after becoming a hit-making songwriter, he signed his own contract with Columbia Records. In 1958, he had his first Top 40 hit, "The Violet and a Rose", followed by the Top 25 hit "Sawmill".

Rise to fame

Although Tillis charted on his own Billboard's Hot Country Songs list, he had more success as a songwriter. He continued to be Webb Pierce's songwriter. He wrote the hits "I Ain't Never" (Tillis's own future hit) and "Crazy, Wild Desire". Bobby Bare ("Detroit City"), Wanda Jackson, and Stonewall Jackson also covered his songs. Tillis continued to record on his own. Some well-known songs from his Columbia years include "The Brooklyn Bridge", "Loco Weed", and "Walk on, Boy". However, he didn't achieve major success on the country charts on his own.

In the mid '60s, Tillis switched over to Kapp Records, and in 1965 he had his first Top 15 hit with "Wine". Other hits continued to follow, such as "Stateside" and "Life Turned Her That Way" (which was later covered by Ricky Van Shelton in 1988, going to #1). He wrote for Charley Pride ("The Snakes Crawl At Night") and wrote a big hit for Kenny Rogers & the First Edition called "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". He also wrote the hit "Mental Revenge" for Outlaw superstar Waylon Jennings (it has also been covered by the Hacienda Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, Barbara Mandrell, and Jamey Johnson). In 1968, Tillis achieved his first Top 10 hit with "Who's Julie". He also was a regular featured singer on The Porter Wagoner Show.

The height of his career

Things turned around in 1969 for Tillis. He finally achieved the success he always wanted with two Top 10 country hits, "These Lonely Hands of Mine" and "She'll Be Hanging Around Somewhere". In 1970, he reached the Top 5 with "Heart Over Mind", which peaked at #3 on the Hot Country Songs list. After this, Tillis's career as a country singer went into full swing. Hits soon came quite easily, such as "Heaven Everyday" (1970), "Commercial Affection" (1970), "Arms of a Fool" (1970), "Take My Hand" (a duet with Sherry Bryce in 1971), and "Brand New Mister Me" (1971). In 1972, Tillis achieved his first chart-topper with his version of his song "I Ain't Never". Even though the song was previously a hit by Webb Pierce, Tillis's version is the better-known version of the two. Most of the above-mentioned song hits were recorded on MGM Records, Tillis's record company in the early part of the decade.

After the success of "I Ain't Never", Tillis had another hit, which came close to #1 (reaching #3), entitled "Neon Rose", followed by "Sawmill", which reached #2. "Midnight, Me and the Blues" was another near chart-topper in 1974. Other hits Tillis had on MGM include "Stomp Them Grapes" (1974), "Memory Maker" (1974), "Woman in the Back of My Mind" (1975), and his version of "Mental Revenge" (1976). Tillis achieved his biggest success with MCA Records, with whom he signed in 1976. It started with a pair of two #1 hits in 1976, "Good Woman Blues" and "Heart Healer". (In an interview, he mentioned having written five hits in one week.) Thanks to this success, Tillis won the CMA Awards's most coveted award, Entertainer of the Year, and was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame that year. He achieved another #1 in 1978 with "I Believe In You" and then again in 1979 with "Coca-Cola Cowboy", which was put in the Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way but Loose, in which he also made a cameo appearance. Also in 1978, Mel co-hosted a short-lived variety series on ABC television, Mel and Susan Together with model Susan Anton. Other hits around this time included "Send Me Down to Tucson", "Ain't No California", and "I Got the Hoss". In mid 1979, Tillis switched to another record company, this time with Elektra Records.

After signing with Elektra in mid 1979, he continued to make hit songs such as "Blind In Love" and "Lying Time Again", both hits in 1979. Up until 1981, Tillis remained on top his game as one of country music's most successful vocalists of the era. "Your Body Is an Outlaw" went to #3 in 1980, followed by another Top 10 hit, "Steppin' Out". "Southern Rains" in 1981 was his last No. 1 hit. That same year, he released an album of duets with Nancy Sinatra which spawned two hit singles; the Top 30 hit "Texas Cowboy Night" and the double A-side, "Play Me or Trade Me/Where Would I Be". He remained with Elektra until 1982 before switching back to MCA for a brief period in 1983. That summer, he scored a Top 10 hit with "In The Middle Of The Night" and had his last Top 10 hit with "New Patches" in 1984. By this time, however, Tillis had built up a financial empire thanks to investing in music publishing companies such as Sawgrass and Cedarwood. He also appeared in movies, including The Villain (1979), Love Revival, W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, The Cannonball Run, and Uphill All the Way, a comedy western in which he starred with fellow country singer Roy Clark, among others. In 1979 he acquired radio station KIXZ (AM) in Amarillo, Texas, from Sammons-Ruff Associates, which converted from Top 40 to country music and became a force in the Panhandle region. A short time later, Tillis acquired Rock FM station KYTX, which changed calls to KMML (a play on Tillis's stutter). Still later he operated WMML in Mobile, Alabama. All of his stations were sold after a time for a healthy return. He briefly signed with RCA Records as well as Mercury Records and later Curb Records in 1991. By this time, his chart success had faded.

Later career and life

Since his heyday in the 1970s, Tillis remained a songwriter in the 1980s, writing hits for Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis. He also wrote his autobiography called Stutterin' Boy (the title comes from Tillis's speech impediment). Tillis appeared as the television commercial spokesman for the fast-food restaurant chain Whataburger during the 1980s. He also built a theater in Branson, Missouri, where he performed on a regular basis until 2002. In 1998, he teamed up with Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings and Jerry Reed to form The Old Dogs. The group recorded a double album of songs penned entirely by Shel Silverstein. In July 1998 Old Dogs Volumes 1 and 2 were released on the Atlantic Records label. A companion video as well as a Greatest Hits album (composed of previously released material by each individual artist) were also available. In the 1990s, Tillis's daughter, Pam Tillis, became a successful country music singer in her own right, having hits like "Maybe It Was Memphis" and "Shake the Sugar Tree". In June 1999 ABC news ran a story about Tillis being frustrated by his speech impediment and stated that he went on to grow in confidence using techniques from stutterfree and, although Tillis has never spoken about this, many did note a small improvement in his problematic articulation around that time. His speech problem is not evident in singing—only in talking.

The Grand Ole Opry inducted Mel Tillis on June 9, 2007. He was inducted into the Opry by his daughter Pam. Along with being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, it was announced on August 7 that year that Tillis, along with Ralph Emery and Vince Gill, is the latest to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Family

Tillis has six children: Mel Tillis, Jr. (a songwriter), Pam Tillis, Carrie April Tillis, Connie Tillis, Cindy Tillis, and Hannah Tillis. Mel has one brother, Richard, and two sisters, Linda and Imogene. He also has 6 grandchildren: Marshall Howden, Madison Howden, Tanner Westmoreland, Katherine Westmoreland, Phillip Hollingsworth, Ben Asher Mason.