Thurman Theodore “Teddy” Wilburn, one-half of country music duo The Wilburn Brothers who played a pivotal role in launching the careers of Loretta Lynn and Patty Loveless, was born on this day in 1931 in Hardy, Arkansas.
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He got his start singing with siblings Lester, Leslie, and Virgil Doyle, and Geraldine. In 1940, the “King of Country Music” himself, Roy Acuff, discovered the siblings and invited them to the Grand Ole Opry. Although federal child labor laws cut short their time there, they would become regulars on the Louisiana Hayride radio program in Shreveport, Louisiana, just eight years later.
Eventually, the family act dissolved, and Doyle and Teddy Wilburn each served with the U.S. military war during the Korean War. The two youngest Wilburn Brothers resumed touring in 1953, signing with Decca Records a year later. Their first hit record came shortly after, when they backed Webb Pierce on “Sparkling Brown Eyes.”
The Wilburn Brothers had at least one Billboard Top 10 country single every year from 1954 through 1966, including “Go Away With Me” (1956), “Which One Is To Blame” (1959), “Trouble’s Back In Town” (1962), “It’s Another World” (1965), and “Hurt Her Once for Me” (1967).
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How Teddy Wilburn and His Brother Helped Kickstart Loretta Lynn’s Career
By 1956, Doyle and Teddy Wilburn had established their own publishing company, Sure-Fire Music, with Drifting Cowboys member Don Helms. By the early ’60s, a country singer-songwriter named Loretta Lynn had landed on their radar.
While signed with Zero Records, a small firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Lynn hit No. 14 on the Billboard country charts with “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.” Impressed, the Wilburn Brothers added her to their road show and made her a regular on their syndicated television series. Not long after that, Doyle helped Lynn get out of her contract with Zero and convinced Decca to ink a deal with her. Additionally, the Wilburn Brothers were instrumental in starting up the career of Lynn’s distant cousin, Patty Loveless.
Sadly, Doyle died from lung cancer on Oct. 16, 1982, at just 52 years old. “It was like a 45-year marriage ended,” his younger brother later recalled.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Teddy Wilburn continued with the Opry as a solo artist until his death on Nov. 24, 2003, of congestive heart failure, merely six days before his 72nd birthday
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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