June 1st:
1915
Born on this day in Enville, Oklahoma, was Johnny Bond best known for his 1947 hit “Divorce Me C.O.D.”, one of his seven top ten hits on the Billboard country charts. In 1965, at the age of 50, he scored the biggest hit of his career with the comic “Ten Little Bottles”, which spent four weeks at #2. Bond’s other hits include “So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed” (1947), “Oklahoma Waltz” (1948), “Love Song in 32 Bars” (1950), “Sick Sober and Sorry” (1951) and “Hot Rod Lincoln” (1960). Bond died on 12 June 1978.
1926
Born on this day in Mount Airy, North Carolina was Andy Griffith actor, GrammyAward-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. His most successful release was the 1996 I Love to Tell the Story: 25 Timeless Hymns, which won a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album at the 1997 Grammy Awards. Griffith died on July 3rd 2012.
1941
Born on this day in Greenwood, Arkansas was songwriter and recording artist Wayne Kemp, who penned hit tunes for George Strait, George Jones and Johnny Cash, among many others. He died at Macon County General Hospital in Lafayette, Tennessee on March 9th 2015. One of his most well-known songs gave Johnny Cash his 1976 #1 hit “One Piece at a Time” and also co-wrote “Love Bug” for George Jones.
1953
Born on this day in Coleman, Texas, was Ronnie Dunn, country music artist, best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn who have won more Country Music Association awards and Academy of Country Music awards than any act in the history of country music. The duo scored the 1991 US Country #1 hit “Brand New Man.”
1956
Born on this day in Houston Texas, was Lisa Hartman Black, American singer and actress. She achieved her most notable success with a duet with her husband Clint Black, entitled “When I Said I Do”. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in 1999 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
1985
Highwayman, feauturing Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson entered the country chart (where it spent 66 weeks) going on to peak at #1. The album features the single “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train.”
1992
Billy Ray Cyrus was at #1 on the US Country music chart with his breakthrough hit “Achy Breaky Heart”. Written by Don Von Tress it was originally titled “Don’t Tell My Heart” and recorded by The Marcy Brothers in 1991, its name was later changed to “Achy Breaky Heart” In the US it became a crossover hit on pop and country radio, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, becoming the first Country single to be certified Platinum since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream” in 1983.
1999
Tim McGraw held the #1 position on the country charts with “Please Remember Me”. Co-written by Rodney Crowell and Will Jennings it was originally recorded by Crowell on his 1995 album Please Remember Me. McGraw’s rendition reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks, a position that it held for five weeks. The song was also McGraw’s biggest solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #10.
2013
George Strait appeared in The Alamodome, Downtown San Antonio, Texas before seventy thousand fans in the last concert of the first half of his two-year farewell tour.
