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Conway Twitty (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993) was one of the America`s most successful country music artists of the 20th century. Most commonly thought of as a country music singer, he also enjoyed success in early Rock and Roll, R&B, and Pop music. Until 2008, he held the record for the most Number One singles of any country act, with fifty-five Number Ones on all trade charts.
Jenkins was named by his great uncle after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas (now known as Helena-West Helena, Arkansas) when Jenkins was 10 years of age, and it was in Helena that Jenkins put together his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers.[citation needed]
Two years later, he had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. Jenkins also practiced his second passion, baseball. He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school, but he was drafted into the Army, which effectively put an end to that dream.
After his discharge from the Army, Jenkins again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley`s song, "Mystery Train", he began writing rock `n` roll material. As a matter of course, he headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, owner and founder of Sun Studios, to get the "right" sound.
Twitty`s fortunes changed in 1958, while he was with MGM Records. An Ohio radio station did not play "I`ll Try", an MGM single that went basically nowhere in terms of sales, radio play, and jukebox play, instead playing the "B side" of the single. The B side was a song called "It`s Only Make Believe". It was popular in Ohio, and gradually became popular throughout the country, as well.
For a brief period in Twitty`s music career, some believed that he was Elvis Presley recording under a different name. This was largely the case with "It`s Only Make Believe." The record took nearly one year in all to reach and stay at the top spot of the charts. The song went on to sell over 8 million records and to No. 1 on the Billboard pop music charts in the U.S. as well as No. 1 in 21 different nations.
Twitty would go on to enjoy rock-n-roll success with a song like "Danny Boy" (Pop No. 10) and "Lonely Blue Boy" (Pop No. 6). "Lonely Blue Boy" was originally titled "Danny" and was recorded by Presley for the film King Creole It was not used in the film soundtrack. You can listen to presley`s version on legendary performer album and see this is exactly the same song recorded a few month earlier.
Conway Twitty always wanted to record country music and — beginning in 1965 — he did just that. His first few country albums were met with country DJs refusing to play them because he was well known as a rock-n-roll singer. He finally broke free with his first number one country song, "Next In Line" in November 1968.
In 1970, Conway recorded and released his biggest hit ever, "Hello Darlin`" (which spent four weeks at the top of the country chart). It is considered by many one of the greatest country songs ever.
In 1971 he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone". It was a success, and many more followed, including "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), "Feelins" (1975), "I Still Believe in Waltzes", "I Can`t Love You Enough" and many others. Together, Conway and Loretta (as they were known in th
Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway_Twitty
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[on the secret to his successful singing career] "I say things that women want to hear - things that men have trouble saying."
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