R. C. Bannon (born Daniel Shipley; May 2, 1945) 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. Active since 1977, Bannon has recorded for the Columbia and RCA labels. He was also married to singer Louise Mandrell from 1979 to 1991, and charted six duets with her in addition to 12 singles of his own. His highest-charting single was his 1979 cover of the Peaches & Herb hit " Reunited," recorded as a duet with Mandrell, that reached number 13 on the country music charts in 1979; his most successful solo single is "Winners and Losers" at number 26. In addition to recording as a solo artist and with Mandrell, Bannon co-wrote songs for

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, ...

Bobby G. Rice Robert Gene Rice (born July 11, 1944, in Boscobel, Wisconsin, United States) is an American country music singer-songwriter, known professionally as Bobby G. Rice. Between 1970 and 1988, Rice released nine albums and charted thirty songs on t ...

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

and

Steve Azar Stephen Thomas Azar (born April 11, 1964) is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and philanthropist. Active since 1996, he has released a total of seven studio albums: one on the former River North Records, one on Mercury Nas ...

Biography

Bannon was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas. There, he sang in his family's church choir as a child, later taking interest in rock music as well as

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

. He also played guitar in several rock bands during the late 1950s and into the 1960s. In the mid-1960s, Bannnon's family moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, where he performed in nightclubs and sang on a local television program every morning, in addition to working as a disc jockey, for KUUU, an oldies format station. It was during his tenure as a disc jockey that he took the professional name R.C. Bannon. After opening for Marty Robbins, Robbins encouraged him to move to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

; Bannon declined at first, and attempted to sign to various labels near California. He briefly signed a contract with

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 note ...

, but did not release anything for that label.

Musical career

Finally, in 1976, Bannon moved to Nashville. There, he worked at a discotheque, and later began meeting other singers and songwriters, including one named Harlan Sanders. After signing to a songwriting contract, he had his songs recorded by Robbins, as well as singles released by

("The Softest Touch in Town") and

(the Number One "

Only One Love in My Life ''Only One Love in My Life'' is the ninth studio album by American country music artist 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 musi ...

"). In 1977, he signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, who released his debut album, ''R.C. Bannon Arrives''. Three of the album's cuts made the

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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, including the No. 33 "It Doesn't Matter Anymore." The album included several songs that Bannon co-wrote, most in collaboration with John Bettis. By 1979, he married Louise Mandrell, with whom he would chart six duets, including the No. 13 "Reunited," his highest-charting single. The two released five duets albums between 1979 and 1982. He and Bettis also co-wrote "

One of a Kind Pair of Fools "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" is a song written by R.C. Bannon and John Bettis, and recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She ...

" for Louise's sister,

. Bannon continued to perform as a musician in Mandrell's show, even after divorcing her in 1991. In the 2000s, Bannon co-wrote

's "

I Don't Have to Be Me ('Til Monday) "I Don't Have To Be Me ('til Monday)" is a song by American country music artist Steve Azar. It was released in October 2001 as the lead-off single from his album '' Waitin' on Joe''. The song peaked at number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Countr ...

." He subsequently married Natalie McGill.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Duets with Louise Mandrell

Other charted songs

;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannon, R.C. 1945 births Living people American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Columbia Records artists Musicians from Dallas RCA Records artists Singer-songwriters from Texas Country musicians from Texas