Jim Reeves (1923-1964)
Jim
Reeves was born to a struggling farm family on August 20, 1923 in Panola
Country, Texas. He grew up listneing to records by Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter
Family. After graduating high school, he played minor league baseball until a
leg injury ended his career. He then became a radio announcer on stations in
East Texas, and Louisiana's KWKH, the home of the Louisiana Hayride.
He recorded for the Macy's and Abbott labels, and in 1953, scored a breakthrough #1 hit with "Mexican Joe". This earned him a regular slot as a featured singer on the Hayride, and in 1955 signed with RCA Records and a spot in the Opry lineup.
With RCA, he worked with producer Chet Atkins, and Jim was recording hits such as "Yonder Comes A Sucker" and "According To My Heart". By 1957, Jim was smoothing out his sound, and scored another #1 hit with "Four Walls", which secured him as a superb romantic balladeer.
This put him in the forefront of the pop-flavored Nashville Sound, otherwise known as Countrypolitan, which helped country lure a new adult audience. He cultivated the "Gentleman Jim" image further by wearing formal stage attire. He strove for perfection in his choice of songs, on stage performances and in his recordings. He tirelessly promoted his records and it all paid off with hits like "Blue Boy", "Billy Bayou", "Am I Losing You", "He'll Have To Go", and "Welcome To My World". International touring, TV appearances and his own ABC network pop radio show, which originated from WSM 1957-58, gained him even larger popularity.
On July 31,1964, Jim Reeves was killed in a plane crash near Nashville in heavy rain. His body was returned to Texas and he's buried near the town of Carthage.
However, Jim's popularity didn't die with him and he had posthumous hits, even several years after his death, which include "Is It Really Over" in 1965, "Missing You" in 1972, and in 1981/2 "Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)" charted as a duet with Patsy Cline, which producer Owen Bradley made by combining already existing separate versions through electronic magic.
Jim Reeves was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1967.
Sign up for TCB's newsletter by simply sending an e-mail to TCB Weekly News