David Frizzell (born September 26, 1941) is an American

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 ...

singer. He is the younger brother of country musician,

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter. Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as in ...

. His career started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the 1980s.

Biography

Frizzell was born in

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, United States. He began performing in his brother's show at the age of 12. He toured with his brother throughout the 1950s and 1960s and served in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in 1970 and finally achieved solo success, placing the single "I Just Can't Help Believing" 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 ...

'' top-40 country chart. Frizzell appeared regularly on

Buck Owens Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' country music chart. He pioneered what came ...

' ''All American TV Show'' during the 1970s, and recorded for

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 ...

. In 1981, he recorded his first number-one country hit, " You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," a duet with

Shelly West Shelly West (born May 23, 1956) is an United States, American country music singing, singer. Her mother was the country music star Dottie West, whose career spanned three decades. The younger West reached her peak in popularity during the 1980s ...

. The song won the Country Music Association's Song of the Year and Vocal Duet of the Year awards in 1981, was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and was featured in Clint Eastwood's film '' Any Which Way You Can''. Frizzell and West also won the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

award for Vocal Duo of the Year in 1981 and 1982. In August 1982, Frizzell scored his only solo number-one country single with " I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home". He continued to tour and record with West until 1986. After he parted ways with Shelly West, Frizzell continued to record solo albums, but he has not kept up the popularity he enjoyed during the early 1980s. Notwithstanding, he continues to record and tour.

Discography

Albums

Singles

*^A"I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home" also peaked at No. 20 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Top Singles chart in Canada.

Singles with Shelly West

Music videos

References

Bibliography

* Bush, John (2003). Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, & Stephen Erlewine. "David Frizzell." ''All Music Guide to Country'', 2nd ed. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003. * Whitburn, Joel. "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits" New York: Billboard Publications Inc., 1996.

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frizzell, David 1941 births American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Capitol Records artists Columbia Records artists Country musicians from Arkansas Living people MCA Records artists People from El Dorado, Arkansas RSO Records artists Singer-songwriters from Arkansas Warner Records artists