Robert Glynn Luman (April 15, 1937 – December 27, 1978) was an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

singer.

Early life and career

Luman was born in

Blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

, Texas, United States, and raised in Nacogdoches, Texas. His early interest in music was influenced by his father, an amateur

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

player. Bob Luman received his first guitar when he was thirteen years of age. Luman attended high school in Kilgore, where the family had moved after young Bob's birth and started his first band while in high school. Luman had been a baseball star at his high school and tried out with the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, but when he did not make it in professional baseball, he decided to concentrate on his music. In 1956, he won a talent contest promoted by the

Future Farmers of America The National FFA Organization or FFA is an American nonprofit career and technical student organization, which offers middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV) was founded in ...

, which earned him an appearance on the ''

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' is a radio and later television country music show that was broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana; during its heyday from 1948 to 1960, it helped to launch the careers of some ...

''. For the ''Hayride'', Luman formed a

backup band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

called the Shadows, including

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...

on guitar, James Kirkland on bass and Butch White on drums. In 1957, the band signed with Imperial Records, where they recorded "All Night Long" (b/w "Red Cadillac and a Black Mustache") and "Amarillo Blues". That same year, the band appeared on the '' Town Hall Party'' in Los Angeles, and appeared in the movie '' Carnival Rock'', where they backed up David Houston. The following year, having been dropped by Imperial Records, Luman signed with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, where he released "Try Me" and "I Know My Baby Cares". Capitol Records wanted Luman to change his name, which he refused to do, so he left the record label and signed with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

, recording "Class of '59" and "Loretta". In 1960, Luman was inducted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. It was while still serving in the Army Warner Bros. Records released Luman's best-known crossover hit, " Let's Think About Living", a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

that hit No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

and No. 9 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

chart. It also reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. After leaving the Army in 1962, Luman moved to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. On August 12, 1964, he married Barbara in Yuma, Colorado. In 1965, he joined the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

Later career

Luman toured frequently in the 1960s and 1970s, and became popular in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, with an act that combined country and rockabilly. He signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in 1968, and had several hits, including " Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" and "Still Loving You". "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" became his biggest country hit, hitting No. 4 on the country chart. (

Steve Wariner Steven Noel Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Initially a backing musician for Dottie West, he also worked with Bob Luman and Chet Atkins before beginning a solo career in the late ...

, who had earlier been a member of Luman's band, later covered the song in 1984, and he, too, took it to No. 4 on the country charts.) Luman's other country hits included " Ain't Got Time to Be Unhappy", (1968) "Ballad of Two Brothers" (with Autry Inman, 1968), " When You Say Love" (1972), "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)" (1973), "Proud Of You Baby" (1975), and " The Pay Phone" (1977). Perhaps his most unusual song was a slow, soulful recitation of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

's " I Still Miss Someone". Luman died of pneumonia in Nashville in late December 1978. He was 41 years old. After his death,

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging primarily in country music but varying in everything from 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History T ...

released several compilations of his songs, including ''More of the Rocker'', ''Still Rockin and ''Carnival Rock''.

Legacy

Luman is a member of both the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The original Rockabilly Hall of Fame was an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville ...

and the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. His song " Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" was featured in the 1988 drama film ''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dea ...

''.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Bob Luman's page at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luman, Bob 1937 births 1978 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Tennessee Musicians from Tyler, Texas People from Kilgore, Texas American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Grand Ole Opry members Epic Records artists Hickory Records artists Imperial Records artists Polydor Records artists Sony Music Publishing artists Warner Records artists 20th-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American male singers Kilgore High School alumni