The Grand Ole Opry inducted Faron “Hillbilly Heartthrob” Young into their hallowed ranks of country stars on November 19, 1954, signaling what had the potential to be a promising and long-lasting career. And while Young certainly stuck around in the industry for decades to come, it wasn’t always without scandal. As the years progressed, Young began amassing a collection of troubling incidents that ranged from spanking a young child at a concert to shooting holes through the ceiling of his family home to becoming one-half of several rumors about romantic dalliances, including with Patsy Cline.
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But before that—and as his Grand Ole Opry induction would suggest—Young was an incredibly popular country star and actor. His first No. 1 single topped the charts while he was in basic training for the Korean War, and after he returned from service, his career continued to skyrocket. Some of his most popular hits included “It’s Four in the Morning”, a rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Hello Walls”, “If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)”, and “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young”.
Like his contemporaries Roy Rogers and Elvis Presley, Young also enjoyed success as a singing actor. It was this facet of his career that would garner him the nickname the “Hillbilly Heartthrob” after moviegoers took to his on-screen appearance. He appeared in a number of films, including Hidden Guns; Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer; Raiders of Old California; and Country Music Holiday.
The Heartbreaking End to the Hillbilly Heartthrob’s Reign
The worst of Faron Young’s scandals occurred in the latter half of his life, which also coincided with a drop in popularity. The Hillbilly Heartthrob was a legacy act, certainly, but he didn’t dominate the charts the way he once did in the early 1950s. His drinking became worse, and his behavior became more erratic. Consequently, Young’s marriage suffered, and he and his wife, Hilda Macon (great-granddaughter of country music royalty Uncle Dave Macon), separated after 34 years in 1987. Soon, his health followed suit.
Suffering from emphysema and having recently undergone prostate surgery, Young was struggling to cope with his worsening health, failed marriage, and the idea that the country music industry that once hailed him as a heartthrob had turned its back on him. Paired with his pre-existing depression, this was an understandably toxic mix. In early December 1996, Young died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Columbia Summit Medical Center in Nashville. First responders said they found a detailed suicide note at Young’s home.
As is so often the case in tragic stories like these, Faron Young died with far less celebrity than he had decades earlier. Nevertheless, he remained a legend of sorts in the country music scene—a sort of “if you know, you know” kind of player that marked a unique time in pop culture history when Nashville and Hollywood conjoined to great effect. His Grand Ole Opry induction preceded that of Flatt and Scruggs, The Louvin Brothers, and Johnny Cash. After he died, Young’s ashes were scattered over Old Hickory Lake near Cash and June Carter’s home. The couple wasn’t present at the time.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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