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Conway Twitty

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Conway Twitty (September 1 1933 - June 5 1993), born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was one of the United States' most successful country music artists of the 20th century. He had the most singles (55) reach Number 1 on various national music charts. Most commonly thought of as a country music singer, he also enjoyed success in early Rock and Roll, R&B, and Pop music (among others).

Biography

Birth Date

Conway Twitty was born Harold Lloyd Jenkins on September 1 1933 in Friars Point, Mississippi. Jenkins was named by his great uncle after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas (now known as Helena-West Helena, Arkansas) when Jenkins was 10 years of age, and it was in Helena that Jenkins put together his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers. Two years later, he had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. Jenkins also practiced his second passion, baseball. He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school, but he was drafted into the Army, which effectively put an end to that dream.

Inspired By Elvis

After his discharge from the Army, Jenkins again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley's song, "Mystery Train", he began writing rock 'n' roll material. As a matter of course, he headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, owner and founder of Sun Studios, to get the "right" sound.

Source of Stage Name

Harry felt that his real name wasn't marketable, and he changed his show business name in 1957. (Harold Lloyd Jenkins would always remain his legal name, however). Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. Thus, he went with the professional name of "Conway Twitty". Alternatively, Jenkins met a Richmond, Va., man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant. The manager served in the army with the real Conway Twitty. Later, the manager suggested to Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it. The Richmond, Va., Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song, "What's in a Name But Trouble," in the mid-1960s, lamenting the loss of his name to Jenkins. The flip side of the 45 RPM record was "The Purple Purple People Eater Eater."

First Successes

"It's Only Make Believe" was recorded in 1958 and became the first of nine Top 40 hits for Twitty, selling eight million copies.^[1] The song was written by Conway and drummer, Jack Nance.

Rock Successes

Twitty's fortunes changed 1958, while he was with MGM Records. An Ohio radio station did not play "I'll Try", an MGM single that went basically nowhere in terms of sales, radio play, and jukebox play, instead playing the "B side" of the single. The B side was a song called "It's Only Make Believe". It was popular in Ohio, and was gradually becoming popular throughout the country, as well. For a brief period in Twitty's career, some believed that he was Elvis Presley recording under a different name. This was largely the case with "It's Only Make Believe." The record took nearly one year in all to reach and stay at the top spot of the charts. The song went on to sell over 8 million records and to No. 1 on the Billboard pop music charts in the U.S. as well as No. 1 in 21 different nations. Twitty would go on to enjoy rock-n-roll success with a hard rock song like, "Danny Boy" and "Lonely Blue Boy". "Lonely Blue Boy" was originally titled "Danny" and was recorded by Presley for the film King Creole, which was never used in the film soundtrack.

Career In Country Music

Conway Twitty always wanted to record country music and in 1965 he did just that. His first few country albums were met with country DJs refusing to play them because he was well known as a rock-n-roll singer. He finally broke free with his first number one country song, "Next In Line" in 1968. In 1970, Conway recorded and released "Hello Darlin'". In 1971 he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone". It was a success, and many more followed, including "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), "Feelins" (1975), "I Still Believe in Waltzes", "I Can't Love You Enough" and many others. Together, Conway and Loretta (as they were known in their act), won four consecutive Country Music Association awards for vocal duo (1972-75). In 1973, Twitty released "You've Never Been This Far Before", which was #1 for three weeks that September. Some disc jockeys refused to play the song because of its suggestive lyrics. In 1993, shortly before he died, he had recorded a new album, "Final Touches". Twitty's last chart appearance on the country charts was a duet with Anita Cochran, "I Want to Hear a Cheating Song" (2004). Twitty's voice was electronically created based on one of his hits from the 1980s.

Appearances in Other Media

On October, 2004 "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (sung by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn) appeared on the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional country music station K-ROSE. On Family Guy episodes "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" and "Peter's Daughter", clips of Conway Twitty were shown.

Covers

While Twitty has been known to cover songs – most notably "Slow Hand" which was a major pop hit for the Pointer Sisters – his own songs have not been covered that often. However, four notable covers include George Jones' rendition of "Hello Darlin", Blake Shelton's "Goodbye Time", The Misfits version of "It's Only Make Believe" and Elvis Presley's version of "There's A Honky Tonk Angel".

Awards

Twitty never won a solo CMA award. By the end of his tenure at MCA in 1981, he had accumulated 32 No. 1 hits, while another 15 had reached the Top 5. He moved to Warner Bros. Records in 1982, where he had another 11 No. 1 hits. By 1987, Twitty was back at MCA where he continued to score top 10 hits until 1991. Conway Twitty was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and his pioneering contribution has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, as well. In 2003, Twitty was ranked #8 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.

Private Life

Marriages

Twitty married three times. After his death, his widow, Dee Henry Jenkins, and his four grown children from the previous marriages, Michael, Joni, Kathy and Jimmy Jenkins engaged in a public dispute over the estate. His will had not been updated to account for the third marriage, but Tennessee law reserves one third of any estate to the widow. A public auction of much property and memorabilia was held due to the fact that the widow refused to accept the appraised value so therefore she demanded that everything be sold so she could get a higher amount.

Twitty City

Twitty lived for many years in Hendersonville, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, where he built a country music entertainment complex called Twitty City. Its lavish displays of Christmas lights were a famous local sight. It has since been sold to the Trinity Broadcasting Network and converted to a Christian music venue in 1994. He used to live in a house on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, TN. The house is at the end of a peninsula and has a pink roof.

Death

Conway Twitty became ill while performing in Branson, Missouri, and was in pain while he was on the tour bus. He died June 5 1993 in Springfield Missouri at Cox South Hospital from an abdominal aneurysm.

Legal

Twitty's success in country music was a key factor in his winning a case in U.S. Tax Court. The IRS denied Twitty's attempt to deduct from his taxes, as an "ordinary and necessary" business expense, payments he had made to investors in a defunct restaurant business. It was to be a fast-food chain called "Twitty Burger." The chain went under in 1971. The general rule is that the payment of someone else's debts is not deductible. But Twitty won because his primary motive was "protecting his personal business reputation." The court opinion contained testimony from Twitty about his bond with country music fans. Source: T.C. Memo. 1983-667, 1983 WL 14653 (U.S.Tax Ct.), 47 T.C.M. (CCH) 238, T.C.M. (P-H) P 83,667, 1983 PH TC Memo 83,667.

Discography

1950s

1958 Conway Twitty Sings
1959 Saturday Night

1960s

1960 Lonely Blue Boy
1960 A Rock and Roll Story
1960 Greatest Hits
1961 The Conway Twitty Touch
1962 Portrait of a Fool
1964 Hit the Road
1965 It's Only Make Believe
1966 Look Into My Teardrops
1966 Conway Twitty
1967 Country
1968 Next in Line
1968 Here's Conway Twitty
1969 Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie
1969 I Love You More Today
1969 You Can't Take Country Out of Conway

1970s

1970 Hello Darlin'
1970 To See My Angel Cry
1970 That's When She Started To Stop Loving You
1970 Conway Twitty
1970 Fifteen Years Ago
1971 How Much More Can She Stand
1971 Hits
1971 I Wonder What She'll Think About Me Leaving
1971 Lead Me On
1971 We Only Make Believe
1972 Conway Twitty Sings the Blues
1972 I Can't See Me without You
1972 I Can't Stop Loving You
1972 Shake It Up
1972 Greatest Hits
1973 Clinging to a Saving Hand
1973 I Can't Stop Loving You
1973 (Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date
1973 She Needs Someone to Hold Her
1973 Who Will Pray for Me
1973 You've Never Been This Far Before
1973 I'm So Used To Loving You
1974 Country Partners
1974 Honky Tonk Angel
1974 I'm Not Through Loving You Yet
1974 Never Ending Song of Love
1975 Feelins'
1975 High Priest of Country Music
1975 Linda on My Mind
1975 Star Spangled Songs
1975 This Time I've Hurt Her More
1976 Now and Then
1976 Twitty
1976 United Talent
1977 Dynamic Duo
1977 I've Already Loved You in My Mind
1977 Play, Guitar Play
1978 Conway Twitty Country
1978 Conway
1978 Georgia Keeps Pulling On My Ring
1978 Honky Tonk Heroes
1979 Country Rock
1979 Cross Winds

1980s

1980 Diamond Duet
1980 Heart & Soul
1980 Rest Your Love on Me
1981 Mr. T
1981 Two's a Party
1982 Dream Maker
1982 Number Ones
1982 Southern Comfort
1983 Conway's #1 Classics, Vol. 2
1983 Lost in the Feeling
1983 Merry Twismas
1984 By Heart
1984 Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
1985 Chasin' Rainbows
1985 Don't Call Him a Cowboy
1986 A Night with Conway Twitty
1986 Fallin' for You for Years
1987 Borderline
1988 Making Believe
1988 Still in Your Dreams
1989 House on Old Lonesome Road

1990s

1990 Crazy in Love
1991 #1's, Vol. 2
1991 #1's, Vol. 1
1991 Even Now
1992 Country Gospel Greats
1993 Final Touches
1995 Sings Songs of Love
1996 Crazy Dreams

2000s

2002 Road That I Walk
2007 A Tismas Story

Footnotes

^ The Hamilton Spectator Newspaper- Souvenir Edition page MP44 (Saturday June 10, 2006). "The Hamilton Memory Project;". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-01-29.

References

Oermann, Robert K. (1998). "Conway Twitty". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 553-4.

External links

Persondata
NAME	Twitty, Conway
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jenkins, Harold Lloyd
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH	September 1 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH	Friars Point, Mississippi
DATE OF DEATH	June 5 1993
PLACE OF DEATH	Missouri