On this day (April 14) in 1980, George Jones released “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” The song became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. More importantly, the song helped revive the country legend’s flagging career and reminded the world why he was hailed as the greatest singer in the genre’s history. It also became his signature song for the remainder of his life.
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Penned by songwriting legends Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, Jones didn’t like the song when he heard it the first time. He famously told producer Billy Sherrill, “Nobody’ll buy that morbid song of a b*tch,” refusing to record it. That was just the tip of the iceberg, though. Jones famously refused to learn the song’s melody and instead would sing it to the tune of “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Finally, though, he relented and recorded the song, nailing it on the second take.
[RELATED: “He Stopped Loving Her Today” Isn’t the Saddest George Jones Song—and I’ll Tell You Why]
When the song hit radio stations, Jones hadn’t had a No. 1 single in six years, his last being “The Door” in 1974. It has been three years since he broke the top 10 with “Bartender’s Blues” in 1977. The times were changing, and Jones’ career was circling the drain. At the same time, his 1975 divorce from Tammy Wynette sent the “A Good Year for the Roses” singer into mental and physical decline as his abuse of drugs and alcohol escalated. In short, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” came at the perfect time.
George Jones Sees a Return to the Top with “He Stopped Loving Her Today”
George Jones changed his tune on the song after it became a huge hit. “To put it simply, I was back on top,” he wrote of the song in his autobiography I Lived to Tell It All. “Just that quickly. I don’t want to belabor the comparison, but a four-decade career was salvaged by a three-minute song.”
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” only topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for a single week. However, that was enough to put the wind back in Jones’ sails. It also won Single of the Year at the CMA Awards and the Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. More than that, it was the beginning of a string of hits for Jones.
He would release nine more singles between 1980 and 1984, all of which were top 10 hits. More than half of his output through the rest of the decade landed in the top 20.
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” has since appeared in the upper region of countless lists naming the best or saddest country songs of all time, solidifying Jones’ mark on the genre for decades to come.
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