Conway Twitty Biography, Photos and Posters

Conway Twitty

Biography

Born: September 1, 1933
City and Country of Origin: Friars Point, Mississippi
Music Training:
Awards: "It's Only Make Believe," "Danny Boy," "Lonely Blue Boy," "Next In Line," "After the Fire Is Gone," "Lead Me On," "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," "You've Never Been This Far Before,"
Top Recordings:
Conway Twitty Biography: Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, Conway Twitty was one of the most successful country music artists of the 20th century. Unlike most country singers who start with hits on the country charts and then cross-over to the pop charts, Twitty started as a rock and roll singer with hits on the pop charts and then crossed-over to the country charts.

He was originally named after the silent movie star Harold Lloyd. At the age of 10 his family moved to Helena, Arkansas. It was at that age that he put together his first singing group the Phillips County Ramblers. Two years later he had his own radio show. He also had a passion for baseball and received an offer to play for the Philadelphia Phillies after high school, but he was drafted into the Army which put a damper on those aspirations. By th etime he was discharged from the Army Elvis Presley was recording with Sam Phillips at Sun Records, so young Harold headed for Memphis. Ther he worked with Phillips to develop the right sound.

In 1957 he changed his name picking Conway after Conway, Arkansas and Twitty after Twitty, Texas. It is said that that the drummer of his group wrote a song "It's Only Make Believe" whiole the group was performing in Hamilton, Ontario in 1958. The song became the first of 9 top 40 hits for Twitty selling over 8 million copies. 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 orginially titled "Danny" and was recorded by Elvis Presley for the film King Creole, which was never used in the film soundtrack.

Twitty real aspirations were to be a country singer and in 1965 he launched his country career, but DJs were reluctant to play his songs because he was a rocker. Finally, in 1968 he broke through with the number 1 hit "Next In Line." In 1971 the first duet album recorded with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone" was released. They soon followed with hits like "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 more.

Perhaps there existed lingering hard feelings due to his rock roots, for even though he had accumulated 32 No. 1 hits, while another 15 had reached the Top 5 while recording for MCA by 1981 he had never won a solo CMA award. 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.

In 1993, Twitty became ill while performing in Branson, Missouri, and was in pain while he was on the tour bus. He died of an abdominal aneurysm. Shortly before he died, he had recorded a new album, Final Touches.
Died: June 5, 1993

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