George Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his most well known song “He Stopped Loving Her Today”, as well as his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last 20 years of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Waylon Jennings expressed in his song “It’s Alright”: “If we all could sound like we wanted to, we’d all sound like George Jones.” During his career, Jones had more than 150 hits, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. (More from Wikipedia)
J. P. Richardson, Jr. – “Jiles” or “Jape” to his friends – grew up in Beaumont, Texas in the same government housing project as one of the greatest country musicians, George Jones, who died just this past April. After graduating from high school and a few years in college, J. P. Richardson, Jr. became a disc jockey at a local radio station, KTRM (now KZZB) and was permanently hired in 1949.
Besides his own wonderful recordings, the legacy of the Big Bopper includes several other songs written by him. The best known is “White Lightning”, a song that was recorded by his life-long friend George Jones and released less than one week after the plane crash; it became Jones’ first #1 country single.
J. P. Richardson, Jr. offered one of his songs, “Running Bear” to another friend, Johnny Preston after hearing him perform at a local club. The song concerns a doomed romance between an Indian brave named Running Bear and an Indian maid named White Dove, who each come from warring tribes, much like the story of Romeo and Juliet. The song was recorded in 1958 and features the Big Bopper, George Jones and Bill Hall performing Indian chanting and Indian war cries. In January 1960, the song reached the top of the singles charts in both the U.S. and the U.K.
(June 2013/1)
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“Why Me” was recorded by many others, among them Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, George Jones, David Allan Coe, Merle Haggard, and Cliff Richard.
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“Somebody’s Knockin’” earned Terri Gibbs a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song, and the accompanying album, Somebody’s Knockin’ won the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Country Artist and the inaugural Horizon Award (for an artist gaining new recognition) from the Country Music Association Awards. Terri Gibbs toured with George Jones and sang duets with him; she also performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
(July 2014)
