|
James Travis "Jim" Reeves (20 August 1923 - 31 July 1964) was an American country singer known for his warm velvety voice. Although he started off as a secular singer, he had a 'conversion' experience to Christianity and he switched into religious songs. His secular songs were remarkable for their simple elegance highlighted by his rich baritone. Songs such as "He'll have to go", "Adios Amigo", and "Am I Losing You" exemplify this. His later Christian songs were more complex. The prime example of this is the album My Cathedral. Jim Reeves' Christmas songs have been perennial favorites, including songs such as "Silver Bells", "I'll have a Blue Christmas", and "The Blizzard".
In the early 1960s, Reeves was more popular than Elvis Presley in South Africa. In fact, he was a superstar there. He even recorded a couple of albums in Afrikaans. In 1963 he starred in a South African movie, Kimberley Jim, which was the biggest South African production up to that date. He had a No.1 hit on the United Kingdom pop charts in 1966 with "Distant Drums," a song written for him by Cindy Walker. Jim Reeves was one of the few Western singers, including music acts such as Boney M and ABBA, who became widely known in the non-European world, including Africa, India and Southeast Asia. To this day, he is affectionately referred to as 'Gentleman Jim' in these parts.
Jim Reeves, who was also known as Gentleman Jim, died in a plane crash. He was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967. In 1998, he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage, Texas, where the Jim Reeves Memorial (http://www.carthagetexas.com/tcmhof/memorial.htm) is located.
Some of the songs he made famous were:
- "Mexican Joe"
- "Bimbo"
- "Yonder Comes a Sucker"
- "Four Walls"
- "A Fool Such as I"
- "I Love You Because"
- "I Won't Forget You"
- "Adios Amigo"
- "Blue Boy"
- "Billy Bayou"
- "Home"
- "If Heartache is the Fashion"
- "Partners"
- "Am I Losing You"
- "Moonlight and Roses"
- "Is This Me"
- "I Missed Me"
- "Blue Side of Lonesome"
- "Welcome to My World"
- "Guilty"
- "I Guess I'm Crazy"
- "This is It"
- "Distant Drums"
He scored his greatest hit with "He'll Have to Go" in 1959/1960 which earned him a gold record.
Even 40 years after his death, he is still quite famous.
External links
|
