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Earl Thomas Conley (October 17, 1941 – April 10, 2019)Wood, Gerry. (1998). "Earl Thomas Conley". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 108. was 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-songwriter. Between 1980 and 2003, he recorded ten studio albums, including seven for
RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Conley also charted more than 30 singles 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 ...
''
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart, of which 18 reached Number One. His 18 ''Billboard'' Number One country singles during the 1980s were the third most by any artist in any genre during that decade, after
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
and
Ronnie Milsap Ronnie Lee Milsap (born Ronald Lee Millsaps; January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly completely blind from birth, h ...
.


Biography


Early life

Conley was born October 17, 1941, in
Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky and just east of the mouth of th ...
, to Glenna Ruth (née Davis; 1918–2002) and Arthur Conley (1910–1989). When he was 14, his father lost his job with the railroad, forcing the young boy to move in with his older sister in
Jamestown, Ohio Jamestown is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Greene County, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,052 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Jamestown is part of the Dayton, Ohio, Dayton Greater Dayton, ...
. He was offered a scholarship to an art school, but rejected it in favor of joining the U.S. Army. While in the Army, he became a member of a Christian-influenced trio, where his musical talent and vocal ability first became apparent. He then decided to consider performing as a serious career option. He shifted more deeply into the classic country sounds of artists such as Merle Haggard and
George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
. During this period he first tried his hand at songwriting. In 1968, after his honorable discharge from the Army, he began commuting from Dayton to Nashville. In 1973 while in Nashville, he met Dick Heard, who produced country music singer Mel Street. This meeting eventually led to the Conley-Heard collaboration on the song "Smokey Mountain Memories", which made the top 10 for Street. After his discharge from the military, Conley had been playing in clubs in Nashville at night, supporting himself by working
blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...
jobs during the day.


Career

In his early days before fame, Conley worked in a steel mill near Portsmouth, Ohio. Until one day he made the bold decision to pack up and move to Nashville. Feeling that he was not making any progress in Nashville, Conley moved to Huntsville, Alabama. There, he met record producer Nelson Larkin, who helped him sign with independent record label GRT in 1974. Conley released four singles on that label, none of which became hits. At the same time, he was selling songs that he had written to other artists, including
Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...
and Mel Street, who were having much success with them. Conley returned to Nashville, now writing for Nelson Larkin's publishing house. In 1979, he signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Two years later, he had his first
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
hit, "Dreamin's All I Do". He left the label in 1979 and joined Sunbird Records, where he again worked with Larkin. This time, Conley found success with a Top Ten and a Number One single within the next two years. He continued to have success over the next few years and in 1983 he was nominated for multiple
Grammy Awards 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 a ...
for his song " Holding Her and Loving You". He set a record the following year as the first artist in any genre to have four Number One singles from the same album, ''Don't Make It Easy for Me'' that was released in May 1983. In 1986, Conley was credited with breaking down country music barriers in his duet with pop/R&B singer Anita Pointer of the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters. Their single, " Too Many Times", the title track to his 1986 album, reached No. 2 on the Country chart. With the song, Conley also became the only country artist to appear on the syndicated music program '' Soul Train''.


Later years and death

By the end of the 1980s, Conley began collaborating with Randy Scruggs, son of banjo virtuoso
Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...
, in the hope that he could bring his music back to his country roots. His record sales began to drop in the 1990s, as country took a more progressive turn, and Conley was dropped from his record label in 1992. He took a seven-year recording hiatus between 1991 and 1997 due to a number of factors, including vocal problems, disenchantment with record label politics, road fatigue, and mental burnout. He began recording again in 1998. In 2002,
Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...
charted in the Top 20 with "All Over Me", which Conley co-wrote with Shelton and longtime friend, songwriter Michael Pyle. In late 2013, Conley gave a telephone interview with
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. Conley recalled that he may have been the only country artist to have appeared on the '' Soul Train'' television program (he performed his duet with Pointer) and went into detail about the string of hits Randy Scruggs and he co-wrote. Conley died on April 10, 2019, from cerebral atrophy.


Discography


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conley, Earl Thomas 1941 births 2019 deaths American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters People from Portsmouth, Ohio Military personnel from Ohio Singer-songwriters from Ohio RCA Records Nashville artists Warner Records artists Country musicians from Ohio Deaths from dementia in Tennessee