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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZHAMILTON, George IV(b 19 July 1937, Winston-Salem NC; d 17 September 2014, Nashville) Singer; the 'International Ambassador of Country Music'. He began with a hit written by fellow North Carolinian John D. Loudermilk: 'A Rose And A Baby Ruth' was a a no. 6 pop hit while Hamilton was still at university, followed by top 40 hits 'Only One Love', 'Why Don't They Understand', 'Now And For Always' '57-8 plus 'The Teen Commandments' with Paul Anka and Johnny Nash, all on pop label ABC-Paramount. He toured with the Everly Brothers, Dion and the Belmonts, Sam Cooke, etc, but turned out to be the country singer he wanted to be: he made an album of Hank Williams songs Sing Me A Sad Song, joined Grand Ole Opry '59; 'Before This Day Ends' '60 was no. 4 in the country chart. Signed to RCA by Chet Atkins '61 he became a successful pop-country singer world-wide: 'Abilene' was no. 1 '63 (no. 15 in the pop chart); such hits as 'Fort Worth, Dallas Or Houston', 'Early Morning Rain', 'She's A Little Bit Country' '64-70 placed him at the forefront of a folk-country movement with Bobby Bare and Waylon Jennings. He recorded more of Loudermilk's songs ('Break My Mind', 'Bad News', 'Blue Train'); he chose material by writers from outside country music, such as Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and became immensely popular in Canada, with own TV series and several LPs recorded in the North Country. Popular in the UK since his debut there '67, he was the first country star to have his own summer season at a British seaside resort, first U.S. country star to appear in the USSR and Czechoslovakia (recording with a Czech group), hosted the first country festivals in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Holland; had own TV series in South Africa, New Zealand, Honk Kong. International tours sold out; albums had large world-wide sales, but U.S. popularity suffered: he was absent from USA charts entirely after '75. He changed labels '77 to ABC-Dot; records produced by Allen Reynolds: albums such as Fine Lace And Homespun Cloth '77 and Forever Young '79 were critically praised but didn't sell well; then he was without a label for a while. He was managed by Mervyn Conn; recordings were geared to UK market where he spent much time, though still a member of Grand Ole Opry; he undertook gospel tours, worked with Billy Graham's Crusades and recorded gospel albums. He made many albums, but Abilene '63 was the only one to make the Billboard pop album chart; later ones included Homegrown '90 on Lamon, Country Classics '91 on EMI-UK's Music for Pleasure label, both with his son George Hege Hamilton V (b 11 November 1960, Nashville). Despite being an international star, no albums at all were listed in the American Schwann catalogue '96. |