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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 ZHOWARD, Harlan(b 8 September 1927, Lexington KY; d 3 March 2002) Country singer; one of the most successful songwriters in the history of country music, a genre that still values songs. He wrote about 4000 of them. He grew up in Detroit, became a paratrooper based in Georgia; later moved to Los Angeles and worked as bookbinder while trying to get songs published. Johnny Bond and Tex Ritter took an interest, published first hit 'Pick Me Up On Your Way Down' (a no. 2 hit by Charlie Walker '58); then 'Heartaches By The Number' (no. 2 country by Ray Price, no. 1 pop by Guy Mitchell), 'Mommie For A Day' (no. 5 by Kitty Wells), all '59; 'Excuse Me (I Think I've Got A Heartache)' (Buck Owens), 'Too Many Rivers' (Brenda Lee), 'I Fall To Pieces' (Patsy Cline), 'Tiger By The Tail' (Owens), 'No Charge' (Tammy Wynette), 'Busted' (Ray Charles), too many more big hits to list. Married Jan Howard '57 and moved to Nashville; she sang on his demo records and had hits of her own. Harlan Howard won a record ten BMI songwriting awards '61, earned royalties that year in excess of $100,000. He had a tumultuous personal life, and once said that every time he got married he bought his new wife a house, just to get that over with. He founded Wilderness Music, and made his own records on Capitol, Monument, RCA, Nugget, but had no major hits of his own. He was still writing in the '90s, often with younger writers like Gary Harrison, Dean Dillon etc; later hits included 'Why Not Me' (the Judds), 'Somebody Should Leave' (Reba McIntire), 'Somewhere Tonight' (Highway 101). Albums included 1965 Disc Jockey Poll Award: All Time Favorite Country Song-Writer '65 on Monument, reissued '96 on Koch International. |