The Life and Times of Country Music Legend Conway Twitty

On September 1rst, in a small town of Friars Point, Mississippi, Harold Lloyd Jenkins, or better known, as Conway Twitty, was born, Conway was a son of a riverboat pilot, who taught Conway his first cord at four years of age.

Conway was influenced by music at an early age. He heard gospel from a black church in town and Gathered around the radio every Saturday night, For the Grand Ole Opry.

When Conway was ten years old his family moved to Helena, Arkansas. It was here that Conway put his first band, "The Phillips County Ramblers".

At age twelve, Conway went on KFFA radio in Helena and sang "Cry Baby Heart". Every Saturday morning he had his own radio show.

Conway also loved baseball and he received an offer from the Philadelphia Phillies, to play for them after High School. In 1953 Conway was drafted into the Army during the Korean War.

While overseas he formed a band called "Cimarron's" And they would play in the overseas clubs. When discharged from the service Conway returned to the states and heard Elvis Presley's "Mystery Train".

Like many others had he headed for the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and many others.

Conway didn't feel his birth name of Harold Jenkins was a showbiz name. In 1957 he took the stage name of Conway Twitty. He looked at a road map and pointed to Conway, Arkansas then to Twitty, Texas.

In 1958 Conway scored his first number one hit at MGM with "It's Only Make Believe". His MGM Rock-n-roll career took off with the single topping charts in 22 countries and selling eight million copies.

In 1965, Conway, with a wife and three kids at home began his career in Country Music. Many country DJ's refused to play his country style music because he was a very well known rock-n-roll star. This changed in 1968, with his first number one country song "next in Line".

In 1970 Conway recorded and released "Hello Darlin" and "Fifteen Years Ago".

He then released a duet in 1971 with Loretta Lynn called "After the Fire is Gone".

Other great songs that fallowed include, "How Much More Can She Stand" (1971), "Lead Me On" (1971), "Baby's gone" and "I've Never Been This Far Before". "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973).

"As soon AS I hang Up the Phone" and "Honky Tonk Angel Who'll Take Me Back In" (1974).

By 1981, Conway had received 32 number 1 hits with another 15 reaching the Top 5.

In 1981, Conway opened his 3 mill. Project the "Twitty City tourism complex in Nashville. He was also co-owner of the "United Talent Booking Agency" and the "Nashville Sands" a minor-league baseball team.

He left MCA in 1982 and moved to "Warner Bros/Elekta. Conway reached No.1 with country remakes of pop songs "The Rose" by Bette Midler and "Slow hands" by the "Pointer Sisters" along with songs "Heartache Tonight" and "Three Times a Lady".

Conway has often been referred to as the best friend a song ever had. He helped boost the careers of talented artists, just to name a few, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Naomi Judd and Kathy Matea.

He rejoined MCA in 1987 and produced more great hits including "Julia", "Desperado Love", "She's Got A Single Thing In Mind", "That's My Job" and "Saturday Night Special" for a short list.

During this time he gave up smoking, which gave him new vocal power. He started to do T.V. appearances, Interviews and Music Video's.

Song's "I Couldn't See You Leavin" and "Crazy in Love" put him back in the Top Ten in the 90s. The song "Rainy Night In Georgia" a duet he had done with Sam Moore was his last session.

Conway became ill during a show in Branson, Missouri. On June 5^th 1993 while on his way to Nashville's 1993 Fan Fair Celebration, Conway suddenly died of a stomach aneurism.

Conway had never won a solo CMA award, however he recorded numerous No. 1 hits and that reached the Top 5.

In 1999, Conway Twitty was inducted into the "Country Music Hall of Fame" and was ranked No. 8 in CMTs 2003 "Greatest Men of Country Music".

Sources:

Conway.musiccitynetworks.comwww.countrymusichallofhame.www.cmt.com