Gone But Not Forgotten!
Singers, Musicians and Writers that passed away in 2011.
Billie Jo Spears - died in 2011 at her home in Vidor, Texas at the age of 74. Spears was best known for her No. 1 hit 'Blanket on the Ground,' but also for 'Mr. Walker, It's All Over' in 1969. She released over a dozen Top 20 hits during the '70s and remained an active touring act until just recently. In 2005, Spears released her final album called 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' at the age of 68.
Billy Grammer - was known for his two Top 20 hits 'I Wanna Go Home' and 'Gotta Travel On,' but also for inventing the Grammer Guitar. In the 1960s, it was called the "finest flat-top guitar on the market," and one that was made especially for Johnny Cash fetched over $130,000 at auction. The Illinois native was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Illinois Country Music Hall of Fame. He died in a hospital in Illinois in August 2011 at the age of 85.
Charlie Louvin - succumbed to complications from pancreatic cancer.
The country icon was best known as one-half of the Louvin brothers, who scored a No. 1 hit in 1956 with 'I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby.' After the death of Ira Louvin, he went on to enjoy a very successful solo career, including hits like 'I Don't Love You Anymore'and 'The Only Way Out.' The Country Music Hall of Famer was working to almost his last days, having just released 'The Battle Rages On'album in November 2010.
Don Wayne - wrote the 1974 hit 'Country Bumpkin,' a song that went on to win the CMA and ACM Song of the Year awards, but prior to that he was a known Nashville songwriter who penned the chart-topping hit 'Saginaw, Michigan' for Lefty Frizzell in the early '60s and 'Lonesome Waltz' in 1953. He kept writing even after being drafted for a stint in the Army in 1954 but hit a dry patch in the '70s as his songs were thought to be too rural. A co-worker said something to the effect that "no one wants to hear about that frost on the pumpkin,"which went on to inspire 'Country Bumpkin,' where he recycled that pumpkin line. Don Wayne died of cancer in 2011 at the age of 78.
Ferlin Husky - was one of country music's earliest crossover artists. Best known for his 1957 hit 'Gone,' the Country Music Hall of Famer proved that Nashville twang could appeal to mass audiences with three No. 1 hits and many more Top 20 songs. In 2010, Merle Haggard said, "There were a lot of years when nobody in the business could follow Ferlin Husky. He was the big live act of the day." In his later years, the Missouri native fought off congestive heart failure and eventually had seven bypass surgeries by 2009. "I just pray and keep going," Husky once said. Ferlin also had starring roles in several movies and hosted a Network Show. He passed away at the age of 85 in March 2011.
Jack Barlow - got his start as a radio DJ. His big country pipes drove songs like 'I Love Country Music' and 'Catch the Wind.' After cutting four records in Nashville, he switched gears to commercial work, writing jingles for Big Red chewing gum and doing voiceover work for companies like Budweiser, Kraft and Kellogg's. The World War II veteran died at the age of 87 after a long illness. He is survived by Dianne, his wife of 24 years, along with several children and grandchildren.
Johnny Wright - famous for writing the 1965 chart-topper 'Hello Vietnam,' much of his success came as a collaborator. He was part of the Tennessee Mountain Boys, '50s duo Johnnie and Jack, and he was married to Country Music Hall of Famer Kitty Wells. With Johnnie
and Jack, Wright had several No. 1 hits, including '(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely' and 'Stop the World.' He died in September 2011 at the age of 97 in his Madison, Tenn. home.
Liz Anderson - died on Halloween 2011 at the age of 81. The singer-songwriter was best known for her hits 'Mama Spank' and 'The Game of Triangles,' but she also penned songs like '(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers' and 'I'm a Lonesome Fugitive' for Merle Haggard, the first of which helped him decide on the band name the Strangers. She is the mother of singer Lynn Anderson, whom she also wrote songs for. During her long career, Liz Anderson won two Grammy Awards.
Marshall Grant - the last original member of Johnny Cash's
'Tennessee Two,' died in August 2011. Grant was there –literally — the day Cash first picked up a guitar, and he was with him throughout most of his career, even managing the Man in Black until 1980.
During a 2003 speech, Grant joked that the band didn't spend 10
years trying to refine their classic sound. It only took about five minutes to come up with it, and then they spent four years trying to get rid of it. Members of the Cash family have often said how important Grant's steady hand was to the often unpredictable Cash.
He died in a hospital in Jonesboro, Ark. at the age of 83.
Mel McDaniel - Grand Ole Opry member Mel McDaniel's hits can still be heard on great country radio stations today. His No. 1 tallies include 'Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On' and 'Louisiana Saturday Night,' but he also recorded hits like 'Big Ole Brew' and 'Stand Up.'McDaniel's career was at its peak in the '80s, but he continued to tour heavily into the mid '90s before an accident at a show in Louisiana slowed him down until his death in April 2011. The
Checotah, Okla. native died at the age of 68 after a battle with
cancer.
Ralph Mooney - Bakersfield country pioneer Ralph Mooney died in March 2011 at 82-years-old. The steel guitar player was part of Waylon Jennings' band for over 20 years, and was once referred to as the "only steel guitar player" by Jennings. But he was a star prior to that; Beginning in 1966, he was a frequent nominee and occasional winner of the ACM Guitarist of the Year award. He also wrote the chart-topping hit 'Crazy Arms,' first recorded by Ray Price, but then by Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson and Patty Loveless. Mooney continued to perform and record until 2010. His wife, Wanda, said he died of complications that arose from cancer.
Wade Mainer - Bluegrass pioneer Wade Mainer paved the way for a new era of artists like Ricky Skaggs and the Monroe Brothers. He started playing bluegrass in western North Carolina and formed popular ’30s duo Mainer’s Mountaineers with his older brother, J.E. Mainer. The younger Mainer invented a two-finger banjo picking style that proved to be the cornerstone for a bluegrass era. Eventually Mainer moved to Flint, Mich. at the boom of the auto industry, and he was virtually forgotten until Tex Ritter ran into him one day — and he picked up the banjo once again. He died in September 2011 at the age of 104.
Wilma Lee Cooper - was as familiar of a face around the Grand Ole Opry as Little Jimmy Dickens. Known as the ‘First Lady of Bluegrass’, Wilma Lee enjoyed her greatest success as an artist with her husband, Stoney Cooper. For over 30 years, they built a resume that included hits like ‘Cheated Too’, ‘There’s a Big Wheel’ and ‘Come Walk With Me’. She also wrote ‘Big Midnight Special’. Stoney died in 1977, but Wilma Lee continued to perform on the Opry stage until she suffered a stroke in 2001. She died of natural causes in September 2011 at her Sweetwater, Tenn. home. Their daughter Carol Lee Cooer was inducted with them as Grand Ole Opry members at the age of 13, making Carol Lee Cooper the youngest ever member of the Opry.
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