William Lee Golden (born January 12, 1939) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer. Between 1965 and 1987, and again since December 1995, he has been the baritone singer in the country vocal group

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was chang ...

Career

Golden joined The Oak Ridge Boys (then a Southern gospel music group) in 1965. Golden is widely known for his waist-length beard and hair, and has become one of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment industry. Golden was voted out of The Oak Ridge Boys in 1987, as the other three members wanted to change the band's image. He was replaced by Steve Sanders, but stayed with

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

as a solo artist to record an album titled ''American Vagabond'', which included two chart singles. In 1990, he moved to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

and released "Louisiana Red Dirt Highway". Sanders left the group in 1995 and Golden returned on New Year's Eve of the same year.

Personal life

Has been married four times. Golden was married to Frogene Normand from 1957 to 1975. He married Luetta Callaway in 1984 and they divorced in 1987. He was married to Brenda Kaye Hall from 1990 to 2013. Golden married Simone De Staley in 2015. They live in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He has four sons, Rusty, Craig, Chris and Solomon, a step-daughter and seven grandchildren. Golden's sons Rusty and Chris recorded as The Goldens for

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

between 1988 and 1991. They also played in his road band during his solo career.

The "Golden Era Plantation"

Golden's home is called The "Golden Era Plantation." Built in 1786, it is recognized as the oldest brick home in

Sumner County, Tennessee Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in what is called Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its largest city is Hen ...

. The

Federal-style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

structure was built in 1786, then called "Pilot's Knob," on a military outpost by

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Captain James Franklin, the father of planter and slave trader

Isaac Franklin Isaac Franklin (May 26, 1789 – April 27, 1846) was an American slave trader and plantation owner. He was the co-founder of Franklin & Armfield, which became the largest slave trading firm in the United States. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, ...

(1789–1846). After the war, he was awarded a land grant to the property. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the Plantation became a station camp for Confederate soldiers. In order to protect their valuable gold and silver from approaching Union soldiers, the occupants buried the metals in the ground surrounding the house. This gold was later discovered during renovation of the home in 1976. The area has been struck twice by

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

es; once in 1892 and again on April 6, 2006. Originally a two-story building, the second story was removed by the first tornado. Repairs were made leaving it as a single-story home. Following the second tornado, the home's architecture was restored, adding a second story. The home was listed for sale in 2016 following Golden's divorce from Brenda Hall.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Guest singles

Music videos

References

External links

*
"Biography."
''William Lee Golden''. 25 October 2007.
"Golden Era Plantation."
''William Lee Golden''. 25 October 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, William Lee 1939 births American country singer-songwriters American gospel singers American baritones Living people MCA Records artists Mercury Records artists People from Brewton, Alabama People from Hendersonville, Tennessee The Oak Ridge Boys members Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Country musicians from Tennessee Country musicians from Alabama American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Alabama