On this day (September 17) in 2014, country music lost one of its greatest international ambassadors when George Hamilton IV died at Nashville’s Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital. Four days earlier, the 77-year-old had suffered a heart attack.
Although his career started in pop, Hamilton’s country music roots ran deep. After some success as a teen idol, he returned to those roots, scoring his biggest hit with 1963’s “Abilene”. Hamilton toured extensively around the world, bringing country music to far-reaching places like the former Soviet Union, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Videos by American Songwriter
In honor of the 12th anniversary of his passing, today we’re taking a look at the life and career of George Hamilton IV.
George Hamilton IV Always Had Country Aspirations
Born July 19, 1937, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, George Hege Hamilton IV grew up on the Westerns of Gene Autry and Tex Ritter, as well as his grandfather’s collection of Jimmie Rodgers records.
He bought his first guitar at age 12 with cash earned from a newspaper route. Two years later he took the first of many Greyhound bus trips to Nashville, where he would stay at the YMCA, hang out at the radio stations, and attend shows at the Grand Ole Opry. This is how he established connections like Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, and Ernest Tubb.
While a student at Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, Hamilton formed a country band. After graduating, he attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he met a struggling songwriter named John D. Loudermilk.
In 1956, Hamilton recorded Loudermilk’s song “A Rose and a Baby Ruth,” which climbed to number six on the pop charts. This landed Hamilton a contract with ABC-Paramount, where he would record a string of pop hits.
Back to His Roots
But George Hamilton IV never wanted to be a pop star. He’d always had country music aspirations.
After stints performing with Eddie Cochran and on The Jimmy Dean Show, Hamilton briefly hosted his own national television musical/variety shows on ABC and CBS in the late 1950s. In late 1959, he moved his family to Nashville to further his work as a country musician.
Officially joining the Grand Ole Opry in early 1960, Hamilton was signed to RCA Records by legendary producer Chet Atkins later that same year.
After his 1961 single “Before This Day Ends” reached number four on the country charts, he built on that success with 1963’s “Abilene”. Another John D. Loudermilk composition, it spent four weeks atop the Billboard country singles chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100.
Hamilton charted three singles in 1964, returning to the Top Ten with “Fort Worth, Dallas or Houston.”
His music took a decidedly folk turn after that, hitting the country top 15 twice in 1966 with the Gordon Lightfoot-penned “Steel Rail Blues” and “Early Morning Rain”.
“Urge for Going” — written by Joni Mitchell — reached number seven in 1967, and “Break My Mind” did the single one better later in the year.
[RELATED: 60s Folk Songs That Are Perfect Soundtrack to the Changing Seasons]
Declining Chart Success and New Life Abroad
By the early 1970s, George Hamilton IV’s U.S. chart success had begun to wane. So he took his act international, touring the Soviet Union, Poland, Australia, the Middle East, and East Asia.
In 1973, he organized the longest international tour ever by a country artist, performing 73 shows across three months. One year later, Hamilton made history as the first country artist to perform behind the Iron Curtain.
A devout Christian, he joined Billy Graham on ministry tours across the U.S. and Canada.
Featured image by Harold Barkley/Toronto Star via Getty Images
-
Screenshot from Jessidaniel / YouTube -
July 1967, California Beach Boys L-R: Wilson, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson -
LONDON – APRIL 20: American singer Glen Campbell performs on stage during "The Glen Campbell Music Show" at BBC Television Centre, London on April 20 1975. (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
