Malinin found hemorrhages in the heart and neck and pronounced the cause of death as "insufficiency of [the] right ventricle of [the] heart." By the early 1940s, he'd caught the attention of music executives in Nashville. [133] In May 2014, further radio recordings by Williams were released. Best Answer. Williams' mother had claimed that he was dead. Many artists have covered his songs and he has influenced Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, George Strait, Charley Pride, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, among others. Roy Acuff, along with a host of countrys biggest stars, performed I Saw The Light., MONTGOMERY, AL - JANUARY 4: Guitar themed flower arrangements adorn the gravesite of country singer Hank Williams as he is laid to rest at the Oakwood Cemetary Annex on January 4, 1953 in Montgomery, Alabama. The man in the back seat was singer-songwriter Hank Williams Sr. "I ran in and explained my situation to the two interns who were in the hospital," said Carr, now a 67-year-old Montgomery businessman. Having interviewed Carr, the best that Peter Cooper of The Tennessean could offer was that "somewhere between Mount Hope and Oak Hill", Carr noticed Williams' blanket had fallen off. She cried out, Hes gone gone over and over as firefighters helped her out. His stardom put money in his pocket and gave him the kind of creative freedom artists long for. The house had a small garden on which they grew diverse crops that Williams and his sister Irene sold around Georgiana. medically disqualified from military service, I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, "Luke the Drifter and the Secrets of Country | ABCtales", "Cowtown Birthplace of Western Swing - Hank Williams", Escott, Colin, Merritt, George & MacEwen, William 2015, "Show 9 Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis. His song "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written and recorded in September 1952, but released in late January 1953 after his death. The station's owner called the local police chief. If he came to this conclusion (of suicide), he still had enough prestige left as a star to make a first-class production of it whereas, six months from now, unless he pulled himself back up into some high-class bookings, he might have been playing for nickels and dimes on skid row. Williams had married his second wife, Billie Jean Jones in October 1952, as 14,000 people looked on in Louisiana where Williams hosted radio shows after being fired from the Grand Ole Opry in August of that year. [103][104] Alabama governor Gordon Persons officially proclaimed September 21 "Hank Williams Day". The day after Williams died, The Montgomery Advertiser recalled Williams as a former peanut vendor who learned to play guitar at age 6. [120] The same year, Hank Williams: The Complete Mother's Best RecordingsPlus! His hair began falling out, and he put on 30 extra pounds. Williams, who wrote most of his songs himself, crafted direct, emotionally honest lyrics that had a poetic simplicity that spoke not only to fans of country and western music but to a much broader audience, as evidenced by the pop hit crooner Tony Bennett had with his cover of Cold, Cold Heart in 1951. He wrote songs weekly to perform during the shows. But coupled with Williams' obvious talents as a singer and songwriter was an increasing dependence on alcohol, which he'd started abusing in order to relieve his sometimes excruciating back pain. The song, backed by "Kaw-Liga", was No. After Hawkshaw Hawkins and other performers started singing Williams' song "I Saw the Light" as a tribute to him, the crowd realized that he was indeed dead and began to sing along. Due to Williams' excesses, Fred Rose stopped working with him. When he played on his guitar, he played on the heart-strings of millions, pastor Henry Lyons of Highland Avenue Baptist Church told the crowd gathered on Perry Street. His mother adopted Jett, who was made a ward of the state after her grandmother died and then adopted by another couple. His son, Hank Jr., was ranked on the same list. Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Carr talked to Williams for the last time when they stopped at a restaurant in Bristol, Virginia. [125][126] In July 2020, his granddaughter Katherine (Hank Jr.'s daughter) died in a car crash at the age of 27. Here are more vintage images and stories of Alabamas past. With Hill's help, the family began collecting the money. His official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but there are many who say otherwise. Because a corpse was involved, Stamey called in radio officer Howard Janney. [clarification needed][20], The body was transported to Montgomery on January 2. The suit demanded that both of the publishing companies continue to pay her half of the royalties from Hank Williams' records. Advance ticket sales totaled $3,500. Hank Williams is considered one of the most popular American country music singer/songwriters with songs like "Cold, Cold Heart," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." The president of MGM Records told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks before his death, but over 300 afterwards. He was one of the finest young men that we ever knew, Acuff said. At cafes across the South, the paper added, his songs blared over radios as news of his death spread. Hank Williams was just 29-years-old when he died, but had lived quite a life in his short years. Williams eventually started to host a show on KWKH and started touring across western Louisiana and eastern Texas, always returning on Saturdays for the weekly broadcast of the Hayride. Williams married singer Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. Jeff Wallenfeldt, manager of Geography and History, has worked as an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1992. Among other fake titles he claimed to be a Doctor of Science. Hank Williams Sr. In 1951, Williams fell during a hunting trip in Tennessee, reactivating his old back pains. Keillor, Garrison. [66] In 1951, "Dear John" became a hit, but it was the flip side, "Cold, Cold Heart", that became one of his most recognized songs. On the evening of Dec. 30, 1952, the restless, rail-thin 29-year-old tossed and turned in bed at his home in Montgomery, Ala. As his driver, college student Charles Carr, barreled toward a concert venue in Canton, Ohio, Williams' health took a turn for the worse. Country music historian Bill Malone wrote that Williams sang with the quality that has characterized every great hillbilly singer: utter sincerity. Despite Williamss many well-known heartbreak songs, it should also be remembered that he was capable of writing and singing with great joy and humour, as on, for example, Howlin at the Moon., The last years of his life were suffused in increasing sadness and substance abuse. Jett Williams, 39, was born to Bobbie Jett five days after Williams died. In June, he divorced Audrey Williams,[2] and on August 11, Williams was dismissed from the Grand Ole Opry for habitual drunkenness. The marriage was technically invalid, since Sheppard's divorce from her previous husband did not comply with the legally required 60-day trial reconciliation. In 1948, he moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, and he joined the Louisiana Hayride, a radio show broadcast that propelled him into living rooms all over the Southeast appearing on weekend shows. Later, he started to consume painkillers, including morphine, and alcohol to ease the pain. This being the days of Jim Crow, the 200 Black mourners were in a segregated balcony. His physical appearance diminished, too. While living in Georgiana, Williams met Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne, a street performer. The two were often rivals for Williams' time and attention. The Montgomery Auditorium, located at the intersection of Perry and Monroe Street, "Long forgotten Montgomery auditorium to see new life", "Convict Says Williams Depressed Singer Said Possible Suicide", "Name is Forged to Prescriptions, Expert Says", I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Hank_Williams&oldid=1137643276, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart, January 4, 1953 at Oakwood Annex Cemetery in, January 1, 1953 in Oak Hill, West Virginia, This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 18:47. [25][26] Payne's base musical style was blues. Hank Williams, byname of Hiram Williams, also called the Hillbilly Shakespeare, (born September 17, 1923, Georgiana, Alabama, U.S.died January 1, 1953, Oak Hill, West Virginia), American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who in the 1950s arguably became country musics first superstar. [16] The couple divorced on May 29, 1952. The authors of Hank Williams: The Biography pointed out that "Hank" sounded more "like a hillbilly and western star" than "Hiram". This addiction eventually led to his divorce from Audrey Williams and his dismissal from the Grand Ole Opry. As people across his native Alabama picked up their newspapers that day, they were greeted with the tragic news Williams had died. Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams' health. The investigating officer in Oak Hill declared later that Carr told him that he had pulled over at the Skyline Drive-In restaurant outside Oak Hill, and found Williams dead. "I saw that the overcoat and blanket that had been covering Hank had slipped off," Carr told yet another reporter. His childhood was also shaped by his spinal condition, spina bifida, which set him apart from other kids his age and fostered a sense of separation from the world around him. [78] His final concert was held in Austin, Texas, at the Skyline Club on December 19. As a girl, Jones had lived down the street from Williams when he was with the Louisiana Hayride, and now Williams began to visit her frequently in Shreveport, causing him to miss many Grand Ole Opry appearances. Defending his position, he claimed that Williams possibly committed suicide. [11] Carr later drove on until he stopped for fuel at a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where he discovered Williams seemingly asleep in the back seat. Jett was then legally adopted. The original members were guitarist Braxton Schuffert, fiddler Freddie Beach, and comedian Smith "Hezzy" Adair. Alternate titles: Hiram King Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare. [121] In 1999, Williams was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame. [15] He was born with spina bifida occulta, a birth defect of the spinal column, which gave him lifelong pain; this became a factor in his later alcohol and drug abuse. [96] An estimated 15,000 to 25,000 people passed by the silver casket, and the auditorium was filled with 2,750 mourners. In 1946, Williams traveled to Nashville to meet with music publisher Fred Rose and the Acuff-Rose Publications company. [43] The recordings "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" became successful, and earned Williams the attention of MGM Records. The world he seemed to identify most with was the musical sounds that poured out of the radio and emanated from church choirs. The popular song "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" became a hit for Hank Williams in 1949. A line of thousands filled two-and-a-half city blocks as the funeral procession carried Hank to Oakwood Cemetery. In 2011, Williams' 1949 MGM number one hit, "Lovesick Blues", was inducted into the Recording Academy Grammy Hall of Fame. [134] Gimarc contacted Williams' daughter Jett, and Colin Escott, writer of a biography book on Williams. "Tom [Hiddleston, the actor portraying Williams] puts across that impending sense of doom. [142], For other people named Hank Williams, see. On . Hank Williams was an aspiring country music singer when he first met Audrey Williams. After recording "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. His son, Hank Williams, Jr., a successful country performer in his own right (like Williamss grandson, Hank Williams III), sang Williamss songs in the film biography Your Cheatin Heart (1964). He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1999. His funeral was held the next day, Sunday Jan. 4, 1953, at Montgomerys City Auditorium. While Jett was a college junior at the University of Alabama in Montgomery majoring in recreation therapy, her adoptive . He purchased the DSC title for $35 from the "Chicago School of Applied Science"; in the diploma, he requested that the DSc was spelled out as "Doctor of Science and Psychology". His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals. At his mothers request, the concert in Canton went on as planned. I told Carr that Williams looked dead but I did not press the point when Carr explained that Williams had been given two sedatives, Kitts was quoted as saying. Hank Williams Jr. was performing his father, Hank Sr.'s, songs on stage at age 8. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. His life and career were the subject of I Saw the Light, a 2015 biopic, starring Tom Hiddleston as Williams and Elizabeth Olsen as his first wife, Audrey. [71] On December 13, 1951, he had a spinal fusion at the Vanderbilt University Hospital, being released on December 24. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). [94] He also wrote that Williams had been severely beaten and kicked in the groin recently (during a fight in a Montgomery bar a few days earlier), and local magistrate Virgil F. Lyons ordered an inquest into Williams' death concerning a welt that was visible on his head. On New Year's Day 1953, he took his seat in the back of his 1952 powder blue Cadillac. [100] "Take These Chains From My Heart" was released in April 1953 and reached No. Also, the Drifting Cowboys were at the time backing Ray Price, while Williams was backed by local bands. [37], In August 1938, Elonzo Williams was temporarily released from the hospital. [16] Williams' father was frequently relocated by the lumber company railway for which he worked, and the family lived in many southern Alabama towns. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. She worked in a cannery and served as a night-shift nurse in the local hospital. Jones declared "I have never accepted the report that my husband died of a heart attack. The performances greatly increased Williams' name recognition, but he still lacked a number one hit. Finally, after not hearing from the singer for two solid hours, the driver pulled the car over in Oak Hill, West Virginia, at 5:30 in the morning. After determining that Williams was dead, Carr asked for help from the owner of the station who notified the police. [105] Williams had 11 number one country hits in his career ("Lovesick Blues", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive", "Kaw-Liga", "Your Cheatin' Heart", and "Take These Chains from My Heart"), as well as many other top 10 hits. [31], The president of MGM told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks prior to his death, but over 300 afterwards. Williams was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most significant country music artists of all time. Heart failure and hard living did him in. The Garden Spot Programs, 1950, a series of publicity segments for plant nursery Naughton Farms originally aired in 1950. [101] Released in July, "I Won't Be Home No More" went to No. Since Williams' parents were both followers of Freemasonry,[7] Williams was named after Hiram I. A. Is Hank Williams Sr single? . Discover Hank Williams' Death Car in Montgomery, Alabama: Cadillac where country's first big star was found dead. In 2010 the Pulitzer Prize board awarded Williams a special citation for his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.. Widely considered country music's first superstar, Hiram "Hank" Williams was born September 17, 1923, in Mount Olive, Alabama. 7. While her son was not on the stage, his song I Saw The Light opened the show. [58] He brought together Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass), Jerry Rivers (fiddle) and Don Helms (steel guitar) to form the most famous version of the Drifting Cowboys, earning an estimated $1,000 per show (equivalent to $11,400 in 2021) That year Audrey Williams gave birth to Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams Jr.). [139] On October 22, 1975, a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia, ruled Horton's marriage to Williams was valid and that half of Williams' future royalties belonged to her.[140]. Stamey. [40] Williams' alcohol use started to become a problem during the tours; on occasion he spent a large part of the show revenues on alcohol. Hank Williams decided he wanted to go ahead with the performances he had scheduled on . During World War II Williams commuted between Mobile, where he worked in a shipyard, and Montgomery, where he pursued a musical career. James Ellis Garner later played fiddle for him. Williams and Sheppard married in 1944. [95] That evening, when the announcer in Canton announced Williams' death to the gathered crowd, they started laughing because they thought it was just another excuse. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. Elonzo was a railroad engineer for the W. T. Smith lumber company and was drafted during World War I, serving from July 1918 to June 1919. [35], Williams' successful radio show fueled his entry into a music career. Hank Williams, byname of Hiram Williams, also called the Hillbilly Shakespeare, (born September 17, 1923, Georgiana, Alabama, U.S.died January 1, 1953, Oak Hill, West Virginia), American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who in the 1950s arguably became country music 's first superstar. If a song can't be written in 20 minutes, it ain't worth writing. [61], In 1950, Williams began recording as "Luke the Drifter" for his religious-themed recordings, many of which are recitations rather than singing. Carr requested a doctor for Williams, who was feeling the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he consumed on the way from Montgomery. Country music legends June Carter and Bill Monroe were among those who filed past his open casket as Hanks band, The Drifting Cowboys, backed up those singing tributes to the fallen star. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He purchased the DSC title for $25 from the Chicago School of Applied Science; in the diploma, he requested that the DSc be spelled out as "Doctor of Science and Psychology". In full support of Williams' musical aspirations was his mother, Lillie. In 1930, when Williams was seven years old, Elonzo began experiencing facial paralysis. Later that year he received his first recording contract, with Sterling Records; however, it was on the start-up label MGM that he had his first hit, Move It on Over in 1947. Among the hits he wrote were "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". [29] Around two tons of flowers were sent. In 1977, a national organization of CB truck drivers voted "Your Cheatin' Heart" as their favorite record of all time. His mother stated that she bought it with money from selling peanuts, but many other prominent residents of the town claimed to have been the one who purchased the guitar for him. A doctor injected Williams with two shots of vitamin B12 that contained morphine. He was very kind, and said Oak Hill General Hospital was six miles on my left," and that would place him in Mount Hope. On the weekend after the tour ended, Williams was photographed backstage at the Grand Ole Opry signing a motion picture deal with MGM. He attributed the decision to Williams' declining career: "Most of his bookings were of the honky-tonk beer joint variety that he simply hated. [82], On October 18, 1952, Williams and Billie Jean Jones were married by a justice of the peace[83] in Minden, Louisiana. Williams said he did not, and those are thought to be his last words. [109] When Downbeat magazine took a poll the year after Williams' death, he was voted the most popular country and Western performer of all timeahead of such giants as Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, and Ernest Tubb.[110]. On the evening of December 30, 1952, the restless, rail-thin 29-year-old tossed and turned in bed at his home in Montgomery, Ala. [9] Dr. P.H. Lyons recalled how Hank rose from being a shoeshine boy to star of the stage. He had a message. 'The Garden Spot Programs' 1950", "Hank Williams' 'The Garden Spot Programs' Named Best Historical Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards", "Tom Hiddleston played country icon Hank Williams in biopic", "File Action to Untangle Hank Williams Estate", "Mother's Best, Hank's Best: A Conversation With Jett Williams and the Students", "The Year's Top Country & Western Artists/The Year's Top Country & Western Records", "PBS 'Country Music' - Native stories of Hank Williams Sr., Loretta Lynn and Peter La Farge", "Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame", "Country Music by Ken Burns Episode 3 The Hillbilly Shakespeare", Listing of all Hank Williams's songs and alternatives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hank_Williams&oldid=1142672396, Special Awards and Citation for his pivotal role in transforming country music, This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 19:34. [38] The band traveled throughout central and southern Alabama performing in clubs and at private gatherings. [59] On May 21, he had been admitted to North Louisiana Sanitarium for the treatment of his alcoholism, leaving on May 24. Instead, Williams died 67 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1953. For Hank to have lived even a normal life span, he would have had to avoid chemical dependence. [48] With Williams beginning to be recognized as a songwriter,[49] Sheppard became his manager and occasionally accompanied him on duets in some of his live concerts. People from 35 states were said to have made the trip to say farewell to Hank. Secondly,how did hank williams pass away? Around this time, he met Billie Jean Jones, a girlfriend of country singer Faron Young, at the Grand Ole Opry. A rookie Tennessee highway patrol officer, Swann Kitts, told reporters he had stopped the Cadillac and fined Carr $25 for speeding, The United Press reported on Jan. 2, 1952. [7] Because of an ice storm in the Nashville area that day, Williams could not fly, so he hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to the concerts. [75], On August 11, 1952, Williams was dismissed from the Grand Ole Opry for habitual drunkenness and missing shows. One famous person of Williams, Jr.'s . [25] His funeral was said to have been far larger than any ever held for any other citizen of Alabama,[27][21] and the largest event ever held in Montgomery,[28] surpassing Jefferson Davis' inauguration as President of the Confederacy. [29] In 1937, Williams got into a fight with his physical education teacher about exercises the coach wanted him to do. Elonzo stayed to celebrate his son's birthday in September before he returned to the medical center in Louisiana. Updates? Williams' version became a huge country hit; the song stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for four consecutive months,[56] and gained Williams a place in the Grand Ole Opry. [19] Carr's account of how he discovered that Williams was dead outside Oak Hill is challenged by Dr. Leo Killorn, a Canadian intern at Beckley hospital, West Virginia, fifteen miles from Oak Hill, who claims that Carr drove up to the hospital and asked him to see Williams. Due to Williams' tour schedules, some of the shows were previously recorded to be played in his absence. Meanwhile, "Weary Blues From Waitin'" reached No. One year later, he released a cover of "Lovesick Blues", a huge country hit, which propelled him to stardom on the Grand Ole Opry. A 3-CD selection of the tracks, restored by Joe Palmaccio, was released by Time-Life in October 2008 titled The Unreleased Recordings. Fearful that disc jockeys and jukebox operators would hesitate to accept these unusual recordings, Williams used this alias to avoid hurting the marketability of his name. Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia. [77] It was the second marriage for both (each being divorced with children). They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [77], During his last recording session on September 23, 1952, Williams recorded "Kaw-Liga", along with "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Take These Chains from My Heart", and "I Could Never be Ashamed of You". [84], A man named Lewis Fitzgerald (born 1943) claimed to be Williams' illegitimate son; he was the son of Marie McNeil, Williams' cousin. James E. (Jimmy) Porter was the youngest, being only 13 when he started playing steel guitar for Williams. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. The album, named The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams, was released on October 4, 2011. His funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium, with his casket placed on the flower-covered stage. Hank Williams died of drug and alcohol abuse at the age of 29.
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