{"id":3621,"date":"2006-11-15T08:42:29","date_gmt":"2006-11-15T14:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstlook.ws\/sonnyjames\/?p=3621"},"modified":"2015-09-24T07:09:53","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T13:09:53","slug":"sonny-james-caps-hit-rich-career-with-hall-of-fame-entry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/sonny-james-caps-hit-rich-career-with-hall-of-fame-entry\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonny James Caps Hit-Rich Career With Hall of Fame Entry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article originally published by CMT on November 1, 2006<\/em><\/p>\n

Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/em><\/div>\n
\n

Sonny James isn\u2019t giving interviews. But don\u2019t get the wrong idea. He isn\u2019t playing hard to get just because he\u2019s being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Monday night (Nov. 6). The problem is he can hardly talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing OK,\u201d he says in a barely audible whisper when he returns CMT<\/b>.com\u2019s call. \u201cThis is something that just came up. What happened is they gave me too much medicine in the [throat] muscles. It\u2019s not my voice [that\u2019s impaired] \u2014 it\u2019s the muscles on either side. I was supposed to be like this for about a week, but it\u2019s been almost three months. It\u2019s driving me crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

James gasps out a few more reassuring words, vows he will do the interview when his voice returns and refers the questioner to his old friend, music business mogul Mike Curb, for further biographical revelations. \u201cHe knows more about me than I do,\u201d James promises.<\/p>\n

Unless you were listening to country music before the 1980s, you may be a bit fuzzy about just who Sonny James is. But between the early 1950s and the late 1970s, he was a musical colossus. During that period, he racked up 23 No. 1 hits \u2014 16 of them consecutive ones \u2014 and an additional 19 Top 10s.<\/p>\n

Dubbed \u201cthe Southern Gentleman\u201d because of his dapper appearance and courtly manners, James frequently performed his hits on major network variety programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show<\/i>, The Bob Hope Show<\/i> and The Jimmy Dean Show<\/i>. If gaining visibility for country music had been the sole criterion for admission, James would have been comfortably ensconced in the Hall of Fame decades ago.<\/p>\n

Born James Hugh Loden in Hackleburg, Ala. on May 1, 1929, he grew up in a performing household. He got his first guitar when he was 3 \u2014 a handmade gift from his father \u2014 and quickly mastered both that instrument and the fiddle. The Loden Family \u2014 James, his parents and his four sisters \u2014 toured extensively in its home area and had its own live radio show in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Prior to securing a contract with Capitol Records in 1952, James worked such star-incubating country shows as the Louisiana Hayride<\/i> in Shreveport and The Big D Jamboree<\/i> in Dallas. He also spent 15 months serving in the Korean War.<\/p>\n

After Chet Atkins helped him get his Capitol deal, James proved his worth by making a Top 10 debut in 1953 with the single \u201cThat\u2019s Me Without You.\u201d He continued to chart in the higher regions for the next three years. Then, near the end of 1956, Capitol released what would prove to be James\u2019 career-making song, \u201cYoung Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Love\u201d arrived just as rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was beginning to flex its muscles and the teen market was emerging as a distinct and powerful buying force. Although he was by this time a ripe 27, James delivered the song\u2019s dreamy lyrics with such tender adolescent sincerity that it raced to the top of the country and<\/i> pop charts in early 1957. It stayed at No. 1 on the country chart for nine weeks.<\/p>\n

While the song gave James an enduring identity, it wasn\u2019t exactly his key to the kingdom. He continued to chart consistently and well but didn\u2019t score another No. 1 until \u201cYou\u2019re the Only World I Know\u201d peaked in early 1965. The song held the summit for four weeks.<\/p>\n

Following that achievement, the No. 1s and Top 5s rolled in \u2014 \u201cI\u2019ll Keep Holding On (Just to Your Love),\u201d \u201cBehind the Tear,\u201d \u201cTrue Love\u2019s a Blessing,\u201d \u201cTake Good Care of Her\u201d and \u201cRoom in Your Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting with \u201cNeed You\u201d in 1967, James launched a record of consecutive No. 1 country songs that wouldn\u2019t be broken until 1985 when his fellow homestaters, Alabama, steamed past him with its 17th \u201cconsecutive\u201d chart-topper, \u201cForty Hour Week (For a Livin\u2019). Ever the gentleman, James showed up to congratulate the band when it officially celebrated the occasion.<\/p>\n

It should be said here that Alabama (who outpaced James) and Earl Thomas Conley (who matched James\u2019 string of No. 1\u2019s) did so only via some creative accounting. Joel Whitburn, who tallies up, classifies and publishes Billboard<\/i>\u2018s chart declarations, decided he would not count \u201cChristmas hits, re-issues, B-sides and duos (unless they add to the streak).\u201d<\/p>\n

If Whitburn hadn\u2019t made these exclusions, James would still have the longest consecutive stretch. Alabama\u2019s \u201cChristmas in Dixie,\u201d which came out in 1982 and stalled at No. 35, ended the band\u2019s string of straight No. 1\u2019s at eight, strictly speaking. Conley has his train of 16 only if you ignore his duets with Gus Hardin and Anita Pointer, neither of which reached the top. James\u2019 achievement record is unblemished by such anomalies.<\/p>\n

Among James\u2019 parade of 16, which lasted until 1972, are such durable gems as \u201cI\u2019ll Never Find Another You,\u201d \u201cA World of Our Own,\u201d \u201cBorn to Be With You\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Just a Matter of Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

James moved from Capitol to Columbia Records in 1972 and made a big splash out of the box with \u201cWhen the Snow Is on the Roses,\u201d which went No. 1. His final No. 1 \u2014 at least to date \u2014 came two years later with \u201cIs It Wrong for Loving You.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1973, James showed another side of his musical savvy by producing Marie Osmond\u2019s first solo hit, \u201cPaper Roses.\u201d It went to No. 1 on the country chart and No. 5 on the pop chart.<\/p>\n

Even with his top singles behind him, the affable singer continued to release evocative and memorable music through the remainder of the decade \u2014 tunes such as \u201cA Mi Eposa Con Amor (To My Wife With Love),\u201d \u201cLittle Band of Gold\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re Free to Go.\u201d<\/p>\n

After leaving Columbia, James recorded for Monument and the short-lived Dimension Records. He last charted in 1983 with one of his own songs, \u201cA Free Roamin\u2019 Mind.\u201d In the intervening years, little was heard from or about the singer other than words of praise from dyed-in-the-wool country fans.<\/p>\n

But in 2002, Country Radio Broadcasters presented James with its Career Achievement Award, an honor reserved for such premier entertainers as Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and the aforesaid Alabama.<\/p>\n

Mike Curb, James\u2019s long-time friend and musical colleague, made the presentation. He pointed out that James had shown a particular talent for successfully adapting songs from other formats to country audiences, and he added, in no uncertain terms, that James ought to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now it\u2019s assured he will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article originally published by CMT on November 1, 2006 Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com. Sonny James isn\u2019t giving interviews. But don\u2019t get the wrong idea. He isn\u2019t playing hard to get just because he\u2019s being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame Monday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sonnyjames.com\/hof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}