Hank Thompson

Ron Burgundy · 11-07-2007, 10:50 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Thompson_%28music%29

Henry "Hank" William Thompson (September 3, 1925 â?? November 6, 2007) was country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades. He sold over 60 million records worldwide.
Thompson's musical style, characterized as Honky Tonk Swing, was a mixture of big-band instrumentation, fiddle and steel guitar that featured his distinctive, gravelly baritone vocals. His backing band, The Brazos Valley Boys, was voted the No.1 Country Western Band for 14 years in a row by Billboard Magazine.
He decided to pursue his musical talent after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a radioman and studying electrical engineering at the university level. His first single was "Whoa Sailor" in 1946. The year 1952 brought his first #1 disc, "The Wild Side of Life", which contained the memorable line "I didn't know God made honky-tonk angels" (which inspired the Kitty Wells answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"). Other hits followed in quick succession in the 1950s and 1960s. Although not as prominent in later decades, he has remained an active and respected performer in the field, finding new audiences as a result of the resurgence of a harder-edged sound in country music.
Hank Thompson was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997.
On November 1, 2007 Hank Thompson canceled the rest of his 2007 tour and retired from for singing, two days after being released from a Texas hospital and diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer. He went into hospice care in Ft. Worth, TX. Thompson's last performance was on October 8th in Waco, Texas, his birthplace. According to his official website, Hank Thompson died on November 6, 2007.

**JefeStone** · 11-07-2007, 10:56 AM

All the greats of country music are dying off. After Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Willie Nelson and George Jones go, real country music will be dead. We are stuck with the modern Nashville pop country. Tim Mcgraw? Toby Keith? What a joke. It's a sad, sad day.

TNpuck · 11-07-2007, 11:01 AM

I ran into George Jones at Hunter's Custom Automotive recently. He looks pretty healthy.

I agree, they are a joke.

**nytkrew** · 11-07-2007, 12:06 PM

Just got notification...

Honky-tonk baritone Hank Thompson, the "King of Western Swing" who churned out a string of top 10 country hits during a decades-long career, has died at 82, his family said on Wednesday.
Thompson's death was announced by his wife on Thompson's Web site, which carried a notice that he died on Tuesday in the Fort Worth, Texas, area where he lived. He had been treated recently for lung cancer.
Thompson got his first break in 1948 when fellow singer Tex Ritter got him a contract with Capitol Records and he immediately began turning out hits.
In 1952 he and his his recording with the Brazos Valley Boys of "The Wild Side of Life" brought a rebuttal from Kitty Wells who protested his depiction of women and responded with her own hit, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels."
Other hits were "Green Light" and "Whoa Sailor" and "Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart." Between 1948 and 1974 he scored 29 top 10 hits and another 19 in the top 20 country charts.