|
Claude King was born on
February 5, 1923, on a farm near Keithville, Shreveport,
Louisiana, USA. His date of birth has, since 1961, frequently
been cited incorrectly owing to promotional material released
by his then manager, Tillman Franks, who at the time thought
it tactful to lose a decade from his new client’s age.
King showed an early interest
in music and was a proficient guitarist by the age of 12. He
won a sports scholarship to the University of Idaho, intending
to pursue an athletic career, but changed his mind and
returned to Shreveport to work on The Louisiana Hayride.
During the 50s, he played
various local venues and took to writing songs. He first
recorded for Gotham in 1952, but it was in 1961, after he
signed for Columbia Records, that he achieved his first US
country and pop chart hits with “Big River, Big Man” and “The
Comancheros.”
In 1962, he teamed with Merle
Kilgore to write “Wolverton Mountain.” After the song was
rejected by Johnny Horton and George Jones, King decided to
record it himself and promptly found that he had a
million-selling country and pop hit on his hands. During the
60s, King had an impressive list of 23 country chart hits.
They included Top 10 successes with “The Burning Of Atlanta,”
“Tiger Woman” and his version of Johnny Horton’s song “All For
The Love Of A Girl.” (In 1969, King recorded a tribute album
to his great friend Horton.)
In the early 70s, he found
things more difficult, and his only Top 20 hit came with
“Mary's Vineyard.” The total of King’s country chart hits
stands at 30, the last being “Cotton Dan” in 1977. During his
career he made appearances in several movies including Swamp
Girl, and in 1982, he also acted in the television mini-series
The Blue And The Grey.
|
