Born on This Day in 1919, the ACM Co-Founder Who Penned Hits for Patsy Cline, Marty Stuart, Ray Price, and Ernest Tubb

On this day (December 10) in 1919, Eddie Miller was born in Camargo, Oklahoma. He started his music career in the early 1940s with a western swing band. After World War II, he moved to California, where he found success as a songwriter. Miller also co-founded the Academy of Country Music and the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

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Miller formed Eddie Miller & His Oklahomans, a western swing band, in the early 1940s. Their run was soon interrupted by World War II, in which he served as a railroad engineer. After the war, he reassembled the band, officially launching his recording career in 1947. That was short-lived, though.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1961, Patsy Cline Released the Album That Introduced Two of Her Biggest Hits—Despite Failing To Receive Initial Airplay]

According to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Miller moved to California in the late 1940s and inked a deal with Four Star, a record label and publishing company. He was both a songwriter and a recording artist. There, he released “Release Me,” a song he co-wrote, in 1950. His rendition of the song found little success. Later, though, it became a major hit for several artists across multiple genres. This was the beginning of Miller’s successful songwriting career. At the time, an up-and-coming artist named Patsy Cline was also signed to Four Star. As a result, Miller co-wrote many of her early singles.

After more than a decade in the California country music scene, Miller helped co-found the Country Music Academy, which later became the Academy of Country Music in 1964. Three years later, in 1967, he co-founded the Nashville Songwriters Association International with Buddy Mize and Bill Brook.

Eddie Miller Wrote Multiple Country Classics

Eddie Miller wrote multiple hit songs. His most successful composition, though, was “Release Me.” Jimmy Heap, Kitty Wells, and Ray Price turned the song into a top 10 country hit in the early 1950s. In 1962, Esther Phillips took it to the top of the R&B chart and the top 10 of the Hot 100. Five years later, Engelbert Humperdinck made it an international pop hit.

Ernest Tubb recorded several of Miller’s songs. The most successful, though, was his 1963 hit “Thanks a Lot,” which peaked at No. 3.

Patsy Cline recorded more Miller co-writes than any other artist. He had writing credit son “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray,” “There She Goes,” “In Care of the Blues,” “I’ve Loved and Lost Again,” “I Love You Honey,” “I Don’t Wanna,” “Hungry for Love,” “Hidin’ Out,” and “A Church, a Courtroom, and Then Goodbye.”

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