Mae Boren Axton (born Mae Boren; September 14, 1914 – April 9, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. She was known in the music industry as the "Queen Mother of Nashville". She co-wrote the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

hit single "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...

" with

Tommy Durden Thomas Russell Durden (December 15, 1919 – October 17, 1999) was an American steel guitarist and songwriter, who is most notable for co-writing Elvis Presley's breakthrough hit, "Heartbreak Hotel". Biography He was born in Morgan County, G ...

. She worked with

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' country music charts, second onl ...

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. During her career Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood ...

Johnny Tillotson Johnny Tillotson (April 20, 1938 – April 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop, country, and adult contemporary ''Billboard'' charts, incl ...

, and

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 ...

Personal life

Boren was born in Texas to Mark L. and Nannie Boren. The only daughter out of nine children, she was the sister of United States Congressman Lyle Boren. When Boren was two years old the family moved to Oklahoma. She attended East Central State College and the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. She obtained a public teaching certificate and taught English and journalism at schools throughout Oklahoma. Boren married John T. Axton, an officer in the US Navy, and they had two sons: folk music singer-songwriter, guitarist, film and television actor Hoyt Axton and John, who became an attorney. The family lived in Comanche, Oklahoma during the children's pre-teen years. In 1949, Axton was stationed in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

and the family moved there. Boren taught English at Dupont High School, Paxon High School and Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida.

Music career

By the early to mid-1950s, Mae had developed a number of connections in the music industry. The best-known of these was music executive, song publisher, and songwriter Fred Rose (famous for his work with

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

). She also became a songwriting partner with Jacksonville musicians

and Glenn Reeves. During this time, Boren also worked as a radio announcer and music promoter. Boren is credited with writing approximately 200 songs. Artists who recorded her early compositions include

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

and

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked ...

. She assisted in managing the music and acting career of her son Hoyt Axton throughout the 1970s and '80s. In 1983, Mae discovered a young Tiffany Darwish singing country songs at the Palomino Club in Los Angeles. Mae brought the singer to Nashville, and soon afterwards Tiffany would set a record for the youngest female artist to top the ''Billboard'' charts with a debut album. Boren was also instrumental in getting

started in Nashville music industry in the early 1990s. Since 1998, The Academy of Country Music (ACM) has presented the Mae Boren Axton Service Award to "an outstanding country music artist, duo/group or industry leader in recognition of years of dedication and service to the Academy of Country Music." Recipients include Paul Moore, Barry Adelman, Bob Kingsley,

and

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

"Heartbreak Hotel"

In her autobiography, ''Country Singers as I Know 'Em'', Boren purported to be the link between

and

RCA Victor 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 ...

. She introduced a 19-year-old Presley to

Colonel Tom Parker Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker (born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk; June 26, 1909 January 21, 1997) was a Dutch people, Dutch talent manager and concert promoter, best known as the manager of Elvis Presley. Parker was born in the Netherlands and Il ...

after a performance in Jacksonville, FL. She worked on behalf of Bob Neal to promote Presley and pressured RCA Victor's Nashville division head Stephen H. Sholes to sign Presley. In 1955 Boren co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit-song "

" with Tommy Durden.Axton, 384. Durden presented the idea to Mae Axton from a newspaper article he had read in which criminal and painter Alvin Krolik said, "This is the story of a person who walked a lonely street." It was Boren who suggested there be a Heartbreak Hotel at the end of the man's lonely street, thus creating Elvis' first #1 record and one of the greatest

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

hits.

Death

On April 9, 1997, aged 82, Mae suffered a heart attack and drowned in her hot tub at her home in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 61,753. Hendersonville is the fourth-most populous city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nas ...

References

External links