Tex Williams
Tex Williams | |
|---|---|
 Williams in 1967 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sollie Paul Williams |
| Born | August 23, 1917 |
| Origin | Ramsey, Illinois, United States |
| Died | October 11, 1985 (aged 68) Newhall, California, United States |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | guitar, Harmonica |
| Years active | 1946–1978 |
Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985)[1] was an American Western swing musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held the number-one position on the Billboard chart for 16 weeks in 1947. "Smoke" was the number-five song on Billboard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was number one on the country chart that year.[2]
Life and career
[edit]He was born in Ramsey, Illinois, United States.[1] Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western swing king Spade Cooley, based in Venice, California.[1]
Williams' backing band, the Western Caravan, numbered about a dozen members. They originally played polkas for Capitol Records, and later had success with "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke", written in large part by Merle Travis.[3]
In April 1956, Williams appeared on the Chrysler-sponsored CBS TV broadcast, Shower of Stars.[4]
Williams died of pancreatic cancer on October 11, 1985.[1][5]
Filmography
[edit]Williams and the Western Caravan appeared in these films:
- Tex Williams and His Western Caravan (1947)
- Tex Williams and Orchestra in Western Whoopee (1948)
- The Pecos Pistol (1949)
- Tex Williams' Western Varieties (1951)
Discography
[edit]Albums
[edit]
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Country and Western Dance-O-Rama No. 5 | Decca | |
| 1960 | Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! | Capitol | |
| 1962 | Country Music Time | Decca | |
| 1963 | Voice of Authority | Imperial | |
| 1963 | Tex Williams in Las Vegas | Liberty | |
| 1966 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | 26 | Boone |
| 1971 | A Man Called Tex | 38 | Monument |
| 1974 | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | Granite | |
| 1977 | The Legendary Tex Williams: Then... Now | Corral | |
| 1996 | Vintage Collections: Tex Williams & His Western Caravan | Capitol |
Singles
[edit]| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | |||
| 1946 | "The California Polka" | 4 | singles only | |
| 1947 | "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" | 1 | 1 | |
| "That's What I Like About the West" | 4 | |||
| "Never Trust a Woman" | 8 | |||
| 1948 | "Don't Telephone – Don't Telegraph (Tell a Woman)" | 2 | ||
| "Suspicion" | 4 | |||
| "Banjo Polka" | 5 | |||
| "Who? Me?" | 6 | |||
| "Foolish Tears" | 15 | |||
| "Talking Boogie" | 6 | |||
| "Just a Pair of Blue Eyes" | 13 | |||
| "Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It?" | 5 | 27 | ||
| 1949 | "(There's a) Bluebird On Your Windowsill" | 11 | ||
| 1965 | "Too Many Tigers" | 26 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | |
| "Big Tennessee" | 30 | |||
| 1966 | "Bottom of a Mountain" | 18 | ||
| "First Step Down" | singles only | |||
| "Another Day, Another Dollar in the Hole" | 44 | |||
| 1967 | "Crazy Life" | |||
| "Black Jack County" | 57 | |||
| "She's Somebody Else's Heartache Now" | ||||
| 1968 | "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke – '68" | 32 | ||
| "Here's to You and Me" | 45 | |||
| "Tail's Been Waggin' the Dog" | ||||
| 1970 | "Big Oscar" | A Man Called Tex | ||
| "It Ain't No Big Thing" | 50 | |||
| 1971 | "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down"A |
29 | ||
| 1972 | "Everywhere I Go (He's Already Been There)" | 67 | ||
| "Glamour of the Night Life (Is Calling Me Again)" | singles only | |||
| "Tennessee Travelin'" | ||||
| "Cynthia Ann" | ||||
| 1974 | "Is This All You Hear (When a Heart Breaks)" | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | ||
| "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" | 70 | |||
| "Bum Bum Bum" | ||||
| 1978 | "Make It Pretty for Me Baby" | single only | ||
- A"The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down" peaked at No. 27 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 454. ISBN 0-85112-726-6.
- ^ "Tex Williams | Billboard". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Tex Williams : Biography". CMT. Archived from the original on April 17, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ Disk Talent Feature of 'Stars' Show. Billboard, April 14, 1956. p. 36
- ^ Kienzle, Southwest Shuffle, p. 99: "In 1985, he died of pancreatic cancer (not lung cancer, as was widely reported)."
References
[edit]- Kienzle, Rich. Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-94102-4
- Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1
External links
[edit]
- 1917 births
- 1985 deaths
- Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California
- Western swing performers
- American country singer-songwriters
- People from Ramsey, Illinois
- American comedy musicians
- RCA Victor artists
- Capitol Records artists
- Shasta Records artists
- Liberty Records artists
- Monument Records artists
- 20th-century American singer-songwriters
- Singer-songwriters from Illinois
- Comedians from Illinois
- 20th-century American comedians
- Country musicians from Illinois