George jones biography imdb orange
George Glenn Jones September 12, — April 26, was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as "the greatest living country singer", [ 1 ] [ 2 ] "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music", [ 3 ] and had more than chart singles to his name from until his death in His earliest musical influences were Roy Acuff and Bill Monroealthough the artistry of Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell helped to crystallize his vocal style.
Years of alcoholism compromised his health and led to his missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones. George Glenn Jones was born on September 12,in Saratoga, Texasand was raised with a brother and five sisters in Colmesneil, Texasin the Big Thicket region of southeast Texas. Jones recalled to Billboard in that he would lie in bed with his parents on Saturday nights listening to the Grand Ole Opryand would insist that his mother wake him if he fell asleep so that he could hear Roy Acuff or Bill Monroe.
In his autobiography I Lived To Tell It AllJones recalled that the early death of his sister Ethel worsened his father's drinking problem, which caused him to be physically and emotionally abusive to his wife and children. In his biography George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk LegendBob Allen recounts how George Washington Jones would return home drunk in the middle of the night with his cronies, wake up his terrified son and demand that he sing for them or face a beating.
Oermann said, "You would think that it would make him not a singer, because it was so abusively thrust on him. But the opposite happened; he became He observed in his autobiography, "The Jones family makeup doesn't sit well with liquor Daddy was an unusual drinker. He drank to excess, but never while working, and he probably was the hardest working man I've ever known.
Several photographs show a young George busking on the streets of Beaumont. He had to be, really, the greatest. Jones married Shirley Ann Corley in This began Jones's association with producer and mentor H. The song was cut in the living room of Starday Records' co-founder Jack Starnes, who produced it. Deejay Gordon Baxter told Nick Tosches that Jones had acquired the nickname "possum" while working there.
We recorded in a small living room of a house on a highway near Beaumont. You could hear the trucks. We had to stop a lot of times because it wasn't soundproof, it was just egg crates nailed on the wall and the big old semi trucks would go by and make a lot of noise and we'd have to start over again. InJones told Nick Tosches that Presley "stayed pretty much with his friends around him in his dressing room".
With Presley's explosion in popularity inpressure was put on Jones to cut some rockabilly sides. He reluctantly agreed, but his heart was not in it and he quickly regretted his decision. He joked later in his autobiography, "When I've encountered those records I've used them for Frisbees. When you're hungry, a poor man with a house full of kids, you're gonna do some things you ordinarily wouldn't do.
I said, 'Well, hell, I'll try anything once. I didn't want my name on the rock and roll thing, so I told them to put Thumper Jones on it and if it did something, good, if it didn't, hell, I didn't want to be shamed with it. Jones moved to Mercury inteamed up with singer Jeannette Hicks, the first of several duet partners he would have over the years, and had another top single with " Yearning ".
Starday Records merged with Mercury that year, and Jones was rated highly on the charts with his debut Mercury release, "Don't Stop the Music". Although he was garnering a lot of attention, and his singles were making very respectable showings on the charts, he was still travelling the black-top roads in a s Packard with his name and phone number on the side, playing the "blood bucket" circuit of honky-tonks that dotted the rural countryside.
InJones had his first number one on the Billboard country chart with " White Lightnin' ", which was a more authentic rock and roll sound than his half-hearted rockabilly cuts. Jones had early success as a songwriter. He wrote or co-wrote many of his biggest hits during this george jones biography imdb orange, several of which became standards, such as " Window Up Above " later a hit for Mickey Gilley in and " Seasons of My Heart " a hit for Johnny Cash, and also recorded by Willie Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Jones's most frequent songwriting collaborator was his childhood friend Darrell Edwards. His voice had grown deeper during this period, and he began cultivating his own singing style. Jones was also gaining a george jones biography imdb orange as a hell-raiser. In his Rolling Stone tribute, Merle Haggard recalled:. Jones was always backed by the Jones Boys on tour.
In the s and s, bass player Ron Gaddis served as the Jones Boys' bandleader and sang harmony with Jones in concert. Lorrie Morgan who married Gaddis also toured as a backup singer for Jones in the late s and early s. Johnny Paycheck was the Jones Boys' bass player in the s before going on to his own stardom in the s. InPappy Daily secured a new contract with Musicor records.
For the rest of the s, Jones scored only one number one 's "Walk Through This World With Me"but he featured often in the country music charts. Jones's singing style had by now evolved from the full-throated, high lonesome sound of Hank Williams and Roy Acuff on his early Starday records to the more refined, subtle style of Lefty Frizzell.
In a interview with BillboardJones acknowledged the fellow Texan's influence on his idiosyncratic phrasing: "I got that from Lefty. He always made five syllables out of one word. Jones's binge drinking and use of amphetamines on the road caught up to him inand he had to be admitted into a neurological hospital to seek treatment for his drinking.
Jones would go to extreme lengths for a drink if the thirst was on him. A drinking story concerning Jones occurred while he was married to his second wife Shirley Corley. Jones recalled Shirley trying to prevent him from travelling to Beaumont8 miles 13 km away, to buy liquor. She said she hid the keys to all their cars, but she did not hide the keys to the lawn mower.
He wrote in his memoir: "There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did. Tammy Wynette, in her autobiography Stand By Your Manclaimed the incident occurred while she was married to Jones.
She said she woke at one in the morning to find her husband gone. When I pulled into the parking lot, there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He'd driven that mower right down a main highway My little wife, I told you she'd come after me. Wynette was married to songwriter Don Chapel, who was also the opening act for her shows, and the three became friends.
George jones biography imdb orange
Jones married Wynette in They began touring together, and Jones bought out his contract with Musicor so that he could record with Wynette and her producer Billy Sherrill on Epic Records after she had split with longtime producer Pappy Daily. In the early s, Jones and Wynette became known as "Mr. When asked about recording Jones and Wynette, Sherill told Dan Daley in"We started out trying to george jones biography imdb orange the vocals together, but George drove Tammy crazy with his phrasing.
He never, ever did it the same way twice. He could make a five-syllable word out of 'church. In Octobershortly after the birth of their only child Tamala Georgette, Jones was straitjacketed and committed to a padded cell at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, after a drunken bender. He was kept there for 10 days to detoxify, before being released with a prescription for Librium.
Jones managed to stay sober with Wynette for long periods, but as the decade wore on, his drinking and erratic behavior worsened and they divorced in Jones accepted responsibility for the failure of the marriage, but denied Wynette's allegations in her autobiography that he had beaten her and fired a shotgun at her. Jones and Wynette continued playing shows and drawing crowds after their divorce, as fans began to see their songs mirroring their stormy relationship.
Jones also spoke of his hopes for a reconciliation, and would jokingly reference Wynette in some of his songs — during performances of his hit "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me Her Memory Will " he would sing "Tammy's memory will" — but the recriminations continued. Suffered lacerated liver and bruised lung in car accident. Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content.
Learn more about contributing. Edit page. More from this person. After their divorce, Jones joined the U. Marines and served during the Korean War. When he completed his military service inJones continued to indulge his passion and was soon discovered by producer Pappy Daily, co-owner of Starday Records. Daily quickly signed Jones to a recording contract and became his producer and his manager—a partnership that would last for years.
His musical endeavors that year were less successful, however, with his first four singles failing to gain any notice. But Jones would experience a reversal of fortunes in when he made No. Jones closed the decade with his first No. The latter half of the s was much the same for Jones, with both his solo efforts and his collaborations meeting enthusiastic reception.
Due to his ongoing substance abuse, his second marriage had already begun to deteriorate, but when he met and fell in love with fellow country star Tammy Wynette its fate was sealed. Jones and Shirley divorced inand the following year Jones married Wynette. More than just a romantic union, in the newlyweds began to make music together as well.
They both continued to do well on their own too, with Jones releasing several top-charting singles. Behind the scenes, however, Jones battled continued to battle with drug and alcohol abuse, and his relationship with Wynette turned tense and combative. In things reached their breaking point and Wynette filed for divorce. Jones's heartache seemed to seep out on his solo hit, "The Grand Tour," a gut-wrenching ballad about the end of a marriage.
He and Wynette divorced the following year. Despite their separation, however, Jones and Wynette would continue to work together from time to time, recording hits such as the No. George Jones, renowned as one of the most iconic vocalists in country music history, holds the record for the most hits on the US Country Chart as of His signature style, known for its rich intonation and emotive delivery, allowed him to convey complex emotional states, particularly of heartbreak and loss.
Jones's career took off with the ballad hits "White Lightning" and "Tender Years"