FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) - Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like
"Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful singers in
history, died Thursday at a care facility just south of Nashville. He
was 89.
Arnold biographer and Belmont University professor Don Cusic said
Arnold's grandson, Shannon Pollard, told him of the death early Thursday
morning. He was just days short of his 90th birthday.
Cusic said Arnold's family was with him when he died.
Arnold fell outside his home in March, injuring his hip and
subsequently had hip replacement surgery.
Sally, his wife of 66 years, died March 11 after a short illness.
Singing mostly romantic ballads, Arnold sold 85 million records in a
career that spanned 60 years. He had 28 No. 1 records - most of them
with basic melodies and uncluttered lyrics.
He became a pioneer of "The Nashville Sound," also called
"countrypolitan," a mixture of country and pop styles. Arnold was the
first country music singer to "cross over" to the pop field
consistently, paving the way for later singers such as Kenny Rogers.
He also was a guitarist and songwriter. He was elected in 1966 to the
Country Music Hall of Fame.
Folksy yet sophisticated, Arnold had hits including "Anytime," "Bouquet
of Roses," "Cattle Call," "What's He Doing in My World?" "I Want to Go
With You," "Somebody Like Me," "Lonely Again," "Turn the World Around,"
"Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," "That's How Much I Love You," "The Last
Word in Lonesome Is Me," "Misty Blue" and "Turn the World Around the
Other Way."
Fellow singer Dinah Shore once described his voice as like "warm butter
and syrup being poured over wonderful buttermilk pancakes."
In 2002, Arnold released an album "Looking Back," which he described at
the time as "songs to fall in love to, with romantic strings."
The songs dated back to the 1960s, when Arnold revitalized his career
by adding strings. It was a controversial move for a country artist.
"Everybody thinks they know more about your business than you do," he
told The Associated Press in 2002. "What happened to me was, I'd been
going along having hit after hit after hit after hit. Then as time goes
by, you get cold.
"I got to thinking, if I just took the same kind of songs I'd been
singing and added violins to them, I'd have a new sound. They cussed me,
but the disc jockeys grabbed it. ... The artists began to say, `Aww,
he=B4s left us.=B4 Then within a year, they were doing it!"
Reflecting on his career, he said he never copied anyone.
"I really had an idea about how I wanted to sing from the very
beginning," he said. "I really did, and I've been doing it all my life."
In a 1976 interview, he said, "...I've been everywhere they said a
country boy could never go. I've been to Carnegie Hall, the
Waldorf-Astoria, (Las) Vegas."
Arnold, born on a farm near Henderson, Tenn., sang on radio stations in
Jackson, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis before becoming nationally
known in the 1940s.
He sang on the Grand Ole Opry in the early 1940s, finally turning to a
more pop style in the 1960s. "Make the World Go Away" was a hit in 1965.
"I sing a little country, I sing a little pop and I sing a little folk,
and it all goes together," he said in 1970.
He had a network TV show on NBC and ABC in the early days of
television, exposing country music to the masses. He also was the host
of many TV specials.
His image was always that of a modest, clean-cut country boy.
"You can not satisfy all the people," he once said. "They have an image
of me. Some people think I'm Billy Graham's half brother, but I'm not. I
want people to get this hero thing off their mind and just let me be
me."
He was asked in a 1991 AP interview how it felt to have sold 85 million
records.
"I don't sit around and think about it, but it makes me proud, happy,
honored and lucky," he said in his slow drawl.
Arnold was the son of a sharecropper. As a teenager, he rode a mule to
sing at barn dances. He later drove an ambulance for a funeral home in
Jackson, Tenn., before hitting the big time when he became known as "The
Tennessee Plowboy."
In 1967, he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year
award from the Country Music Association. In 1984, he received the
Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music.
He invested wisely, especially in real estate in the Nashville area,
and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in country music.
He once had this advice for young singers: "Get a good lawyer, a good
accountant and be on time."
Most of his hit records were done in association with famed guitarist
Chet Atkins, the producer on most of the recording sessions.
Early in his career, his manager was Col. Tom Parker, who later became
Elvis Presley's manager.
He and his wife, Sally, were married for more than 60 years (married in
1941). Arnold enjoyed boating in his spare time.
In 1990, he had double bypass heart surgery. He recovered and resumed
singing.
Survivors include a son and daughter.
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