2010 Country Music Hall of Fame Members
the 2010 class elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame
Jimmy Dean, Ferlin Husky, Billy Sherrill and Don Williams will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, the Country Music Association announced February 23.
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(l-r) Gary Overton, CMA Board President-Elect and Executive Vice President/General Manager of EMI Publishing; Steve Buchanan, CMA Board President and Gaylord Entertainment Senior Vice President, Media and Entertainment; 2010 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Ferlin Husky and Billy Sherrill; Bob DiPiero, CMA Artist Relations Committee Co-Chairman and Owner of Love Monkey Music; and Steve Moore, CMA Board Chairman. Not present at the luncheon were the other two 2010 Hall of Fame inductees, Jimmy Dean and Don Williams. |
Jimmy Dean
Place of Birth: Plainview, Texas
Date of Birth: August 10, 1928
Dean's cornflake charm and fresh-faced good looks epitomized the country TV star of the 1950s. Though Dean was able to parlay his specialty, the dramatic narration, into a string of hit records in the 1960s, he gained his biggest success as a television personality.
Ferlin Husky
Place of Birth: Kentwood, Missouri
Date of Birth: December 3, 1925
For singing, comedy, and all-around showmanship, Ferlin Husky is one of the best entertainers country music has ever produced. A pioneer of the West Coast country music scene, he moved on to the Ozark Jubilee and later to Nashville, where he recorded hits that helped establish the Nashville Sound. He also made network TV appearances that further widened country's popularity in the late 1950s.
Billy Sherrill
Place of Birth: Phil Campbell, Alabama
Date of Birth: November 5, 1936
Perhaps the most influential producer in country music during the 1970s, Nashville-based Billy Norris Sherrill played a far-reaching role in shaping the genre's sound and direction. A partial listing of the artists he produced at Epic and Columbia Records between the late sixties and early nineties conveys his commercial and aesthetic impact: George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, Tanya Tucker, David Houston, Barbara Mandrell, Janie Fricke, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Rodriguez, and Shelby Lynne.
Don Williams
Place of Birth: Floydada, Texas
Date of Birth: May 27, 1939
Country's "Gentle Giant," a crooner in the Jim Reeves tradition, Don Williams was one of country's most consistent hitmakers, scoring at least one Top Five single every year between 1974 and 1991. CMA's 1978 Male Vocalist of the Year, he was named Artist of the Decade in 1980 by the readers of London's Country Music People magazine. Between 1972 and 1992 his warm baritone voice graced fifty-six chart records; fifty of these reached the country Top Twenty, and forty-five hit the Top Ten. Seventeen went #1, including such memorable songs as "You're My Best Friend" (1975), "Tulsa Time" (1978), "I Believe in You" (1980), and "That's the Thing About Love" (1984). He has also written such classics as "Lay Down Beside Me" (1976) and "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" (1979).
Learn more about the Country Music Hall of Fame election process.
See the full list of Country Music Hall of Fame members.
