When he played on his guitar, he played on the heart-strings of millions, pastor Henry Lyons of Highland Avenue Baptist Church told the crowd gathered on Perry Street. His childhood was also shaped by his spinal condition, spina bifida, which set him apart from other kids his age and fostered a sense of separation from the world around him. In 2010 the Pulitzer Prize board awarded Williams a special citation for his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.. [33], As part of an investigation of illicit drug traffic conducted by the Oklahoma legislature, representative Robert Cunningham seized Marshall's files. Carr later kept driving until he reached a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where Williams was discovered unresponsive in the back seat. Williams and Sheppard married in 1944. His passing did not bring about the end to his stardom, however. He was dead on arrival at an Oak Hill hospital, the front page of The Alabama Journal read. Malinin found hemorrhages in the heart and neck and pronounced the cause of death as "insufficiency of [the] right ventricle of [the] heart." Carr and Williams checked out of the hotel, but the porters had to carry Williams to the car as he was coughing and hiccuping. Instead of performing, Williams died 70 years ago today, on Jan. 1, 1953. "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written and recorded in 1952 but released in 1953 after Williams's death. [70], In November 1951, Williams fell during a hunting trip with his fiddler Jerry Rivers in Franklin, Tennessee. Father and son rarely saw each other over the next decade, with Williams' mother, who ran rooming houses, moving the family to Greenville and later Montgomery, Alabama. [73] That same year, Williams had a brief extramarital affair with dancer Bobbie Jett, with whom he fathered a daughter, Jett Williams. If a song can't be written in 20 minutes, it ain't worth writing. 1 on the country charts. [68] In October, Williams recorded a demo, "There's a Tear in My Beer" for a friend, "Big Bill Lister", who recorded it in the studio. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Carr was exhausted and, according to the police reports, nervous enough to invite suspicion that foul play had been involved in Williams' death. Copy. Now free to travel without Williams' schooling taking precedence, the band could tour as far away as western Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. [27] Payne taught Williams chords, chord progressions, bass turns, and the musical style of accompaniment that he would use in most of his future songwriting. In the 1970s, he created his own musical identity, combining country with Southern rock and blues. "[36], On March 19, Marshall declared that he felt Williams was depressed and committed suicide by taking a higher dose of the drugs he had prescribed. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. [32] During the same year, he participated in a talent show at the Empire Theater. [103][104] Alabama governor Gordon Persons officially proclaimed September 21 "Hank Williams Day". medically disqualified from military service, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, "Luke the Drifter and the Secrets of Country | ABCtales", "Cowtown Birthplace of Western Swing - Hank Williams", Escott, Colin, Merritt, George & MacEwen, William 2015, "Show 9 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis. 7. Both women had been using the description professionally. Best Known For: Hank Williams became one of America's first country music superstars, with hits like "Your Cheatin' Heart," before his early death at 29. It was all in Hanks heart. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. [123] Several members of Williams' descendants became musicians: Hank Williams Jr., daughter Jett Williams, grandsons Hank Williams III and Sam Williams, and granddaughters Hilary Williams[124] and Holly Williams are also country musicians. [77], During his last recording session on September 23, 1952, Williams recorded "Kaw-Liga", along with "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Take These Chains from My Heart", and "I Could Never be Ashamed of You". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Around this time Williams released more hit songs, such as "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me", "Why Should We Try Anymore", "Nobody's Lonesome for Me", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", and "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living". [30] Williams's remains are interred at the Oakwood Annex in Montgomery. [31], The president of MGM told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks prior to his death, but over 300 afterwards. The couple were married in 1944 at a Texaco Station in Andalusia, Alabama, by a justice of the peace. [109] When Downbeat magazine took a poll the year after Williams' death, he was voted the most popular country and Western performer of all timeahead of such giants as Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, and Ernest Tubb.[110]. [19] In 1935, they settled in Garland, Alabama, where Lillie opened a new boarding house; they later moved with Williams' cousin Opal McNeil to Georgiana, Alabama,[20] where Lillie took several side jobs to support the family despite the bleak economic climate of the Great Depression. Shortly thereafter he became a regular on the newly created Louisiana Hayride radio program based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Williams eventually started to host a show on KWKH and started touring across western Louisiana and eastern Texas, always returning on Saturdays for the weekly broadcast of the Hayride. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams' hits and his cover version of other songs. Encyclopedia of Alabama - Biography of Hank Williams Sr. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Biography of Hank Williams, Alabama Music Hall of Fame - Biography of Hank Williams, Hank Williams - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (1987). (An audio recording of the funeral begins at the 7:30 mark of the video below. That night, the singers body was taken back to Montgomery. A doctor was called to examine him. Finally, after not hearing from the singer for two solid hours, the driver pulled the car over in Oak Hill, West Virginia, at 5:30 in the morning. They later drove to Oak Hill in search of a hospital, stopping at a Pure Oil station on the edge of town. [29] Around two tons of flowers were sent. Jett did not learn that she was Williams' daughter until the early 1980s. Corrections? Jones agreed to Williams's terms. [37], In August 1938, Elonzo Williams was temporarily released from the hospital. Chief Winfred Patterson who arrested Hank said to the Alabama Journal in 1971 that Hank was "more or less having DT's (delirium tremens). More than half of the 66 recordings he would make under his own name (he also released a string of religious-themed recordings under the name Luke the Drifter) were Top Ten country and western hits, many of them reaching number one, including Cold, Cold Heart, Your Cheatin Heart, Hey, Good Lookin, Jambalaya (On the Bayou), and Ill Never Get Out of This World Alive. His extraordinary Lost Highway peaked at number 12. Long plagued by alcoholism, Williams fell ill at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville on the last night of 1952. Williams remains a beloved albeit tragic figure in country music and his work continues to influence musicians to this day. Rock Icon KISS Is Saying Goodbye (For Real), Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Hank Williams, Birth Year: 1923, Birth date: September 17, 1923, Birth State: Alabama, Birth City: Mount Olive, Birth Country: United States. Montgomery, Alabama Hank Williams was country music's first megastar. 4. [11] Carr later drove on until he stopped for fuel at a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where he discovered Williams seemingly asleep in the back seat. [54] After a few more moderate hits, in 1949 he released his version of the 1922 Cliff Friend and Irving Mills song "Lovesick Blues",[55] made popular by Rex Griffin. That all changed in 1949 with the release of "Lovesick Blues," a throwaway rendition of an old show tune he'd pushed to tape at the end of a recording session. In 1952, he divorced Sheppard and married singer Billie Jean Horton. ), He was racked by physical and emotional afflictions, and these coupled with his gift of song, made him kin to millions.. They are in a bedroom in the home of Lillie (Hank Williams's mother) on North McDonough Street in Montgomery, Alabama. [8] Williams and Carr departed from Montgomery, Alabama at around 1:00p.m. Williams arrived at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Carr checked in at 7:08 p.m and ordered two steaks in the lobby to be delivered to their rooms from the hotel's restaurant. [91] Carr later drove on until he stopped for fuel at a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where he realized that Williams had been dead for so long that rigor mortis had already set in. [5] He met Horace Raphol "Toby" Marshall in Oklahoma City, who claimed to be a doctor. The ceremony featured Ferlin Husky interpreting "I Saw the Light". The recordings were found by collector George Gimarc at radio station KSIB in Creston, Iowa. Later that year he received his first recording contract, with Sterling Records; however, it was on the start-up label MGM that he had his first hit, Move It on Over in 1947. Meanwhile, Lewis Fitzgerald's son Ricky billed himself as Hank Williams IV following his father's claim of being Williams' son. In 1951, Williams fell during a hunting trip in Tennessee, reactivating his old back pains and causing him to be dependent on alcohol and prescription drugs. Malinin also found that, apparently unrelated to his death, Williams had also been severely kicked in the groin during a fight in a Montgomery bar a few days earlier[14] in which he had also injured his left arm, which had been subsequently bandaged. Charles Carr told the AJC in 2002 he was the only witness when Hank Williams died. And he looked so satisfied I can't help it if I'm still in love with you. [66] In 1951, "Dear John" became a hit, but it was the flip side, "Cold, Cold Heart", that became one of his most recognized songs. [87] Carr called the Charleston auditorium from Knoxville to say that Williams would not arrive on time owing to the ice storm and was instead ordered to drive Williams to Canton, Ohio, for a New Year's Day concert there. Regardless, Carr said he next drove to "a cut-rate gas station". However, his plaintive, bluesy phrasing was unique and became a touchstone of country music. Williams was among the first class of artists inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961, and in 2010, the Pulitzer Board awarded him a special citation for songwriting. She drove her son and his band to shows throughout southern Alabama. Representative Cunningham presented the committee a telegram from Marshall's seized files, directed to the estate of Hank Williams for $736.39, and stated that the committee was evaluating the revocation of Marshall's parole. Most of the material was written by Williams himself, in some cases with the help of Fred Rose and his son Wesley. James E. (Jimmy) Porter was the youngest, being only 13 when he started playing steel guitar for Williams. The song resonated with music fans, as well as executives at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, who invited Williams to perform. [43] The book only listed lyrics, since its main purpose was to attract more audiences, though it is also possible that he did not want to pay for transcribing the notes. He denied any responsibility in both deaths. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Hank Williams was just 29-years-old when he died, but had lived quite a life in his short years. "Tom [Hiddleston, the actor portraying Williams] puts across that impending sense of doom.