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Ernie Ashworth, well known country singer and
longtime star of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville,
TN, died on this date in 2009. He was 80 years
old.
Ernie became an
Opry fan at an early age and dreamed that someday
he could become a part of this great show. He came
to Nashville in the early ‘50s and joined a band
as their vocalist doing nightclub work in the
Nashville area. He always had a talent for
songwriting and admits that he could write songs
before he could play music.
Once he arrived
in Nashville, he had the chance to play his
material for several music publishing companies.
His songs were later recorded by many top country
artists including Carl Smith, Little Jimmy
Dickens, Johnny Horton, Wilma Lee Cooper and
others. During this time he met Wesley Rose, who
took Ernie under his wing and signed him as an
exclusive writer for Acuff-Rose Publishing Company
and recorded him on MGM Records. But recording
success was to evade him at this time so, in 1957,
Ernie went back to his hometown of Huntsville,
Ala., and started work at Redstone Arsenal in
guided missile work.
He was again
contacted by Wesley Rose in 1960, who told him
Decca records wanted to record him, and this time
he was on his way. His first record, “Each
Moment,” went into the Top 10 national charts. His
next record, “You Can’t Pick a Rose in December,”
was another Top 10. He had two other top 20
records for Decca before changing to Hickory
Records, a label owned by Acuff-Rose. His string
of top 10 records continued including “Everybody
but Me,” and “I Take The Chance.” In 1963 came the
smash hit he had been waiting for, “Talk Back
Trembling Lips,” which went to No. 1 and stayed on
the national charts for 36 weeks. It did quite
well in the pop charts also. It was one of the
nation’s first crossover records.
In March of
1964 Ernie saw his lifelong dream come true when
he was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. After
this came more top 10 records, “A Week in the
Country,” “I Love to Dance With Annie,” “The DJ
Cried,” “At Ease Heart” and more. From 1960 to
1970 every record recorded by Ernie hit the
national charts. Twelve of these were “Top 10” --
quite an accomplishment for any artist.
Dusty Owens
TCM Radio News
(Source: CMT.com) |
