Although best known for her turbulent marriage to George Jones, Tammy Wynette also had a high-profile relationship with another country music mainstay named George. George Richey, who served as both Wynette’s manager and her fifth husband, was born on this day in 1935 in Promise Land, Arkansas.
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Raised in Malden, Missouri, Richey arrived in Nashville in the late ’60s, joining Columbia/Epic (now Sony Records) as a staff producer. Within two years, he was leading the entire company, continuing to produce the likes of Merle Haggard, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Sonny James and Freddie Hart. His work included Hart’s 1970 breakthrough hit “Easy Loving,” which snagged the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year trophy two years in a row, even outselling the Beatles.
A two-time Academy of Country Music Producer of the Year, George Richey excelled in nearly every aspect of the recording industry. His songwriting credits include Lynn Anderson’s 1973 chart-topper “Keep Me in Mind” and George Jones’ “A Picture of Me (Without You)” and “The Grand Tour.”
However, Richey is perhaps best known for his work with Tammy Wynette, who would eventually become his fourth wife.
[RELATED: The Meaning Behind “The Grand Tour” by George Jones Hit a Bit Too Close to Home]
The Song George Richey Wrote About Tammy Wynette
In 1976, Tammy Wynette scored her final No. 1 country hit with “You and Me.” Written by George Richey and frequent collaborator Billy Sherrill, “You And Me” takes the perspective of a woman longing for one man while in a committed relationship to another. As I watch him lyin’ next to me / I can feel his heart, it’s beatin’ softly, Wynette sings. He just loved me so tenderly / But it should be you and me.
Wynette had no way of knowing, but George Richey wrote those words about her. She was less than a year removed from her divorce from Jones when she recorded it, and Richey was married to his second wife, Shelia Hall. Hall filed for divorce in October 1977 when she learned her husband was having an affair with the “Stand By Your Man” singer.
George Richey and Tammy Wynette married on July 6, 1978. He was her manager and husband until her death at age 55 on April 6, 1998.
Though he married again, Richey largely withdrew from public life after Wynette passed. He died on July 31, 2010, following a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Richey was 74 years old.
Featured image by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
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