Country music has its fair share of unsung heroes. One such underrated artist was known for much more than country music. He was involved in everything from rockabilly to pop, and his career spanned beyond singing and songwriting into producing classic country tunes in Nashville. That underrated legend is none other than Dick Glasser, who was born on this very day in 1933.
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Dick Glasser was born in Canton, Ohio. He started his career as a singer/songwriter, and his biggest songwriting hit was the 1954 tune “Angels In The Sky”, which he recorded and released via Triple-A. RCA Records caught wind of the song and made a deal to give it to their singer, Tony Martin, that very same year. The Crew-Cuts would later release their own very popular version of the song, which would go on to sell a million copies.
From there, Glasser enjoyed a successful career in the mid-1950s. But despite his talents as a singer and songwriter, he ended up on the production side of the music industry. In 1960, Glasser was appointed head of Metric Music under Liberty Records. Gene Vincent would record Glasser’s “Teardrops” in 1961, which would be released via Capitol Records. From there, countless songs that were written by Glasser were recorded by big-name musicians at the time. He would also record P.J. Proby’s “Handsome Guy” himself, which would become a Top 10 Australian hit for Glasser in 1962.
The Legacy of Dick Glasser
In 1964, Glasser would be named the general manager of Liberty Records’ Dolton label. He would go on to produce music for The Ventures, The Fleetwoods, and others.
Through his work as a director at Warner Bros. Records starting in the mid-1960s, Glasser would produce recordings for The Everly Brothers, which would eventually lead to his own production company, aptly named Dick Glasser Productions. That label would record successful songs for The Vogues, Gary Puckett And The Union Gap, and others.
In the 1970s, Glasser’s country career really came around. He became the director of MGM Records’ country music division, based in Nashville. He would produce the global 1965 country hit “Convoy” by C.W. McCall. From there, many famous country artists recorded their versions of Glasser’s songs, from Chet Atkins to Glen Campbell to Johnny Cash to The Kingston Trio.
Dick Glasser passed away at the age of 66 in the year 2000, and his legacy lives on today. Without his production work, I doubt country music would look quite the same today.
Photo by Getty Images
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