Melba Montgomery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Melba Montgomery | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Melba Montgomery |
| Born | October 14, 1938 |
| Origin | Florence, Alabama, U.S |
| Genre(s) | Country, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter |
| Years active | 1963 – present |
| Label(s) | United Artists Records Starday Records Musicor Records Capitol Records Elektra Records Phonorama Records Playback Records |
| Associated acts | George Jones, Charlie Louvin, Gene Pitney |
Melba Montgomery (born October 14, 1938 in Iron City, Tennessee) is an American country music singer. She is best known for duet hit recordings in the 1960s, with legendary country music singer, George Jones.
However, Melba Montgomery was a successful solo artist in her own right in the 1970s. Her best-known solo hit is the #1 hit "No Charge".
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[edit] Early life
[edit] Childhood
Born October 14, 1938, in Iron City, TN, and raised in Florence, Alabama, Montgomery gained her first exposure to music through her father, a fiddler and guitarist who taught vocal lessons at the town's Methodist church. At the age of ten, she was given her own guitar.[1] Music became a very important part of Montgomery's life and she soon had serious dreams about achieving success in the country music industry.
[edit] Rise to fame
At age twenty, she and her brother won an amateur talent contest held at Nashville radio station WSM's Studio C, which then housed the Grand Ole Opry. Montgomery's performance so impressed contest judge Roy Acuff that he asked the young singer to replace his departing lead vocalist June Webb; she accepted and toured with Acuff for the next four years.[1]
With the help of Acuff, Montgomery gained a recording contract with United Artists Records by 1962.
[edit] Country music career
[edit] 1963 – 1972: Duet artist career
After going solo in 1962, Montgomery released a self-titled LP and then teamed for a series of duets with George Jones. Their first joint effort was a rendition of Earl Montgomery's "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds."[1] The song spent over thirty weeks on the Billboard Country chart, and peaked at #3 by 1963. It became the duo's best-known song together. The single's success brought a successful duet album with Jones as well (What's in Our Hearts), which released two other Top 20 hit singles, "Let's Invite Them Over" and "What's in Our Hearts".
After finding success as a duet artist, Montgomery found the time to release a solo album in between. In 1964, Montgomery's first-ever solo debut, America's #1 Country and Western Girl Singer. The album brought about a Top 25 hit for Montgomery, "The Greatest One of All", which peaked at #22 on the Billboard Country Chart. For the rest of the decade, Montgomery had a few other minor solo hits, none of which made the Country Top 40.
Jones continued to duet with Montgomery. Between 1963 and 1967, the Jones-Montgomery team generated a total of five Top 40 hits and two LPs (1966's Close Together and 1967's Let's Get Together).[1] However, in 1966, Montgomery was partnered with Gene Pitney for a duet album, Being Together, which spawned a Top 15 hit, "Baby, Ain't That Fine."
After a few minor solo hits in the late '60s, in 1970 Montgomery found new partners in Charlie Louvin and producer Pete Drake. The duo's first hit, "Something to Brag About," was also their biggest, and after a string of singles and a 1971 album — also titled Something to Brag About — she and Louvin parted ways, although Montgomery did continue on with Drake.[1] Although they parted ways, singles continued to be released from the duo, including "Did You Ever", which reached the Top 30, followed by the minor hits "Baby, What's Wrong With Us" and "A Man Likes Things Like That", which were released only as singles in 1972.
[edit] 1973 – 1980: Solo career
In 1973, Montgomery switched to Elektra Records, where she focused more on a solo career. Off her debut album off the label, Montgomery had a Top 40 hit single, "Wrap Your Love Around Me", her first solo single to reach this far on the Country charts in nearly ten years. Montgomery's old producer, Pete Drake, produced her lone number one hit, Harlan Howard's "No Charge," culled from the LP No Charge.[1] Released in 1974, "No Charge" became a #1 Country hit on the Billboard Country Chart, as well as Top 40 hit on the Billboard Pop Chart. The song and the album became successful, and Montgomery's only Top 10 hit as a solo artist.
The title track off of Montgomery's follow-up album, Don't Let the Good Times Fool You reached the Top 15 in 1975, the only Top 40 hit from the album. Subsequent singles also released from the album, "Searchin' (For Someone Like You)" and "Your Pretty Roses Come too Late" did not bring much success. However, in 1977, under United Artists, Montgomery released a self-titled album, and a cover version of Merrilee Rush's Pop hit, "Angel of the Morning" that reached the Top 25. The single was Montgomery's last major country hit. While she continued to record throughout the decade, subsequent albums found little commercial success, and by the 1980s Montgomery focused largely on touring and appearing at festivals.[1]
In 1986, Montgomery released her last single, "Straight Talkin'", which only peaked at #78.
[edit] 1981 – present: Music career today
While she mainly focused on touring, Montgomery released a studio album in 1982, I Still Care, which brought no subsequent success, followed by Do You Know Where Your Man Is in 1992. However, Montgomery focused on other careers in the meantime. In 1988, she even published a cookbook of family recipes.[1] In the early '90s, Montgomery co-wrote a song for Leslie Satcher's debut album.
In June 2001, Montgomery attended the 80th birthday celebration of her friend and pioneering country-gospel vocalist Martha Carson. The party was also attended by Kitty Wells, Sonny James, and Stonewall Jackson.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | What's in Our Hearts (duet album w/ George Jones) | 3 | United Artists |
| 1964 | America's #1 Country & Western Girl Singer | ||
| Bluegrass Hootenanny (duet album w/ George Jones) | 12 | ||
| 1965 | I Can't Get Used to Being That Lonely | ||
| Please Come Back Baby (duet album w/ Gene Pitney) | |||
| 1966 | Blue Moon of Kentucky (duet album w/ George Jones) | ||
| Country Girl | Musicor | ||
| Being Together (duet album w/ Gene Pitney) | |||
| Hallelujah Road | |||
| 1967 | Close Together (duet album w/ George Jones) | ||
| Melba Toast | |||
| Don't Keep Lonely too Long | |||
| Party Pickin' (duet album w/ George Jones) | 37 | ||
| 1968 | I'm Just Living | ||
| 1969 | Country Girl (Capitol Records) | Capitol | |
| 1971 | Something to Brag About (duet album w/ Charlie Louvin) | 45 | |
| Baby, You've Got What It Takes (duet album w/ Charlie Louvin) | 45 | ||
| 1972 | Aching Breaking Heart | ||
| 1973 | Melba Montgomery | Elektra | |
| 1974 | No Charge | 14 | |
| 1975 | Don't Let the Good Times Fool You | 47 | |
| The Greatest Gift of All | |||
| 1977 | Melba Montgomery | United Artists | |
| 1982 | I Still Care | Phonorama | |
| 1983 | Audiograph Alive | Audiograph | |
| 1992 | Do You Know Where Your Man Is | Playback |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Hot 100 | |||
| 1963 | "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" (w/ George Jones) | 3 | What's in Our Hearts | |
| "Let's Invite Them Over" (w/ George Jones) | 17 | |||
| "What's in Our Hearts" (w/ George Jones) | 20 | |||
| "Hall of Shame" | 26 | America's #1 Country & Western Girl Singer | ||
| 1964 | "The Greatest One of All" | 22 | ||
| "Please Be My Love" (w/ George Jones) | 31 | Blue Moon of Kentucky | ||
| "Multiply the Heartaches" (w/ George Jones) | 25 | What's in Our Hearts | ||
| 1966 | "Baby, Ain't That Fine" (w/ Gene Pitney) | 15 | Being Together | |
| "Close Together (As You and Me)" (w/ George Jones) | 70 | single only | ||
| 1967 | "What Can I Tell the Folks Back Home" | 61 | I'm Just Living | |
| "Party Pickin'" (w/ George Jones) | 24 | Party Pickin' | ||
| 1970 | "Something to Brag About" (w/ Charlie Louvin) | 18 | Something to Brag About | |
| 1971 | "He's My Man" | 61 | single only | |
| "Did You Ever" (w/ Charlie Louvin) | 26 | Baby You Got What It Takes | ||
| "I'm Gonna Leave You" (w/ Charlie Louvin) | 60 | singles only | ||
| 1972 | "Baby, What's Wrong With Us" (w/ Charlie Louvin) | 66 | ||
| "A Man Likes Things Like That" (w/ Charlie Louvin) | 59 | |||
| 1973 | "Wrap Your Love Around Me" | 38 | Melba Montgomery | |
| 1974 | "He'll Come Home" | 58 | ||
| "No Charge" | 1 | 39 | No Charge | |
| "Your Pretty Roses Come Too Late" | 67 | Don't Let the Good Times Fool You | ||
| "If You Want the Rainbow" | 59 | |||
| 1975 | "Don't Let the Good Times Fool You" | 15 | ||
| "Searchin' (For Someone Like You)" | 45 | |||
| "Love Was the Wind" | 67 | single only | ||
| 1977 | "Never Ending Love Affair" | 83 | Melba Montgomery (United Artists) | |
| "Angel of the Morning" | 22 | |||
| 1980 | "The Star" | 92 | singles only | |
| 1986 | "Straight Talkin'" | 78 | ||
