Hank Williams, Sr. Biography

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Hank Williams, Sr.
Country Music | 3 CD Set
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Hank Williams was a true honky tonker; he loved to drink, play and entertain. His records from the late '40s on were on juke boxes everywhere, even though he was (and still is) the consummate country singer/songwriter. His death at age 29 was much too early, robbing the purist country community of an original and talented artist. That said, Hiram Williams, born in September 1923 in Alabama, became a rowdy, hard-drinking singer who was trashing hotel rooms years before rockers would be known for this sort of lifestyle. Williams was also into drug use, most of it said to be pain-killers for a bad back. He was thrown from a horse when he was seventeen and lived the rest of his short life in pain every day, the throw exacerbating the spina bifida problem he was born with. Hank got his first guitar at age seven from his mother, Lilly, who raised him after his father Lon was put in a veterans hospital suffering from post-World War I problems. Hank learned to play from watching a black street singer named Rufe Payne, who he credited later by saying all the music training he had, Rufe gave him. Being in the '30s, this leaves no doubt that Hank's musical interest included the black-oriented blues of the time. When he was fourteen, Williams won a talent contest, formed his own band the Drifting Cowboys and began working clubs in Montgomery, Alabama. He is said to have hired a wrestler to play bass, since the clubs were tough and he needed protection. In 1944, Hank tired of his mother's complete control of his earning power and booking, married Audrey Sheppard and she, too, began controlling his interests in competition with Lilly. (Hank apparently had little care about finances, giving money away and when divorcing Audrey a few years later giving her their house and half his earnings.) In late 1946, Hank signed with influential producer Fred Rose and began recording for the small Sterling label, moving soon to MGM and coming under Rose's production, managerial and even co-writing control. His first MGM record was the rampant "Move It On Over," which sold several thousand copies and put the Williams name out there. It was followed by "Honky Tonkin'." In 1946, he joined the Louisiana Hayride and before long recorded an earlier '20s song, Lovesick Blues," which Rose was against but which shot up the charts, staying nearly a year. He was then asked to sing it on the Grand Ole Opry, which resulted in several encores and Hank's induction into the Opry. (He was ousted three years later for his hard-drinking problems.) In 1950 and 1951, he scored several No. 1 country hits, including "Why Don't You Love Me?" and "Moanin' the Blues," followed by "Cold Cold Heart" and "Hey Good Lookin'." He made No. 1 again in 1952 with "Jambalaya" and No. 2 with "Half As Much." Making hits was his forte and he added a visual approach with his flashy suits with sequins and music notes from country designer Nudie (who put him in one of his creations in his coffin a year later). Hank's style of country blues was also to have impact outside of country music. Tony Bennett made a top hit out of "Cold Cold Heart," Jo Stafford did "Jambalaya" and Joni James recorded "Your Cheatin' Heart," all getting gold records out of them. Audrey and Hank divorced in mid-1952. Hank Williams Jr., who would create his own career later out of his father's music, was only three at the time. He was fired from the Opry, but continued to tell jokes about drinking while missing occasional shows. Rose left him, the Drifting Cowboys switched from Hank to Ray Price and he soon was playing small clubs. He remarried in October 1952 to Billie Jean Jones, continued to play and then at Christmas visited relatives in his home in Alabama, while preparing for a New Year's Day 1953 show in Canton, Ohio, his first big show in a while. The show was to also have Homer and Jethro and Hawkshaw Hawkins. On January 1, he was to fly but due to weather conditions the plane canceled out, leaving Hank to hire a driver for his Cadillac. In the back seat, Williams began consuming a bottle of whiskey and before long laid down on the seat. When the car was stopped by a policeman for speeding, the officer noted Hank in the back seat and remarked that he looked dead. A few hours later, the driver checked on Hank and he was indeed dead, death later called due to a heart attack and hemorrhaging but also related to drugs and booze. He was memorialized at the Canton show that night when the performers sang "I Saw the Light." Hank recorded more than 160 songs between 1946-52 and after his death more than 200 tributes to him have been recorded. He had three big hits after his death and it is believed that he is the first artist to have his music altered for later recording. Hank Jr. dubbed over his father's voice, an early idea that Natalie Cole copied in the '90s singing duets with her late father Nat King Cole. The influence Hank Williams had over many country artists is unmistakable. His songs continue to be part of country music nearly fifty years after his death. The women in his life squabbled over his estate, including his mother and two wives. And not long ago came the revelation that he had a daughter by country singer Robbie Jett, the girl, Jett Williams, born just three days after his death. In 1964, a fictionalized bio-film starring George Hamilton, "Your Cheatin' Heart," was released.

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