Marty Robbins

He is known for many styles of music - pure honky-tonk, rockabilly, gospel, straight-ahead pop, blues and Hawaiian. But fans remember Marty Robbins best for his cowboy songs. Songs like "Big Iron", "Running Gun", "The Hanging Tree" and of course "El Paso" established Robbins as the master of the style of country music. He and twin sister Mamie were born near Glendale, Ariz. As a child, Robbins (born Martin David Robinson) was fascinated with El Paso, Texas since childhood - both the name and the city itself. Marty's parents divorced when he was 12 and his mother moved the family to Phoenix. Robbins joined the Navy in 1943, where he learned to play guitar and began singing and songwriting during the three-year stint. After his discharge, he returned to Phoenix and held down a series of jobs. Eventually, he began singing in nightclubs, filling in one night as guitarist for a friend's band. Quite often, he performed under the pseudonym Jack Robinson (because his mother objected to his performing in nightclubs and he didn't want her to find out).

By 1950, he was performing regularly on Mesa, Ariz. , station KTYL, and starred in the local TV series "Western Caravan" on KPHO in Phoenix. One night, country singer Little Jimmy Dickens appeared on the show and was so impressed with Robbins that he urged his record label, Columbia Records, to sign the young star.

Robbins' first song, "Love Me or Leave Me Alone", was recorded in 1951. Although the song failed to chart on any of Billboard magazine's country singles chart (the magazine had separate sales, radio airplay and jukebox to monitor the performance of country songs at the time), Robbins was on his way to country stardom; one of the follow-up singles, "I'll Go On Alone", went No.

1 in early 1953.

Robbins became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in February 1953. A steady string of hits followed, ranging in styles from rockabilly ("That's All Right" and "Singing the Blues"), teenage love songs ("A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)") and of course, cowboy songs.

One of the Grand Ole Opry's most popular performers from 1955 until his death, Robbins would usually close the Saturday night late show with an extended set whenever he was in Nashville, always to a warm reception from the audience.

He had already appeared in several B-westerns and had scored a country hit with "The Hanging Tree" (the title track to the movie starring Gary Cooper) when, in 1959, he began writing and recording songs for his legendary album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs"). The all-time classic from the album of songs was "El Paso", the story of a gunfighter who dies after being shot at the end of the song. The song went No.

1 on Billboard magazine's country singles chart in December 1959, where it spent seven weeks; it also became his only No. 1 Hot 100 hit and became the first country song to win a Grammy. At just over 4:40, radio programmers were reluctant to play such a long song (most songs were half as long), but demand won out, and it soon became one of country music's all-time most popular songs on fan surveys.

During the 1960s and 1970s, his career continued, with a second Grammy coming in 1970 with his No. 1 ode to his wife, Marizona, "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife. " He also dabbled in television ("Marty Robbins' Spotlight") and stock car racing.

"Don't Worry" (his 1961 No. 1 hit on Billboard magazine's country singles charts (10 weeks)) was the first recorded song to include the "fuzz" effect. A fuse had blown in the control room during recording and as a result, Grady Martin's lead guitar solo came out with the "fuzz" result. It was not discovered until the song was being played back; while others groaned that the song would have to be re-recorded, Robbins liked the effect and left it in.

According to a 1982 interview, was outside in his back yard on the afternoon of July 31, 1964, during a severe thunderstorm, when he heard a low flying plane go directly overhead. He said, "I thought to myself, either he's a hell of a pilot or he's in trouble, because you just wouldn't be intentionally flying that low in that kind of a storm. A few seconds later, I heard it crash". Shortly afterward, he found out that the pilot of the plane was his friend and fellow Country Music star Jim Reeves. Reeves and his manager/piano player Dean Manuel were both killed in the crash, although their bodies and the wreckage weren't found until two days later, August 2.

He was a dear close friend of La Melle Prince (a Black Country & Western singer and performer that was signed to Decca Records, Nashville, Tennessee. (1969); her record producer was the late Owen Bradley), he was instrumental in her music career by helping her get signed to Decca Records...

Marty started 22nd and finished 7th in the 1971 Miller 500 at Ontario (CA) Motor Speedway.

He left Columbia Records in 1972 to begin a three-year stint at Decca (later MCA) Records; though he had some success there, he returned to Columbia in late 1975. During his 31-year recording career, Robbins had 94 songs make Billboard's country charts, with 16 going to No. 1; 31 of his songs also placed on the Hot 100.

Marty Robbins was a respected Nascar Winston Cup/ Grand National racer, as well as a car owner. Mr. Robbins competed in 35 races, between 1966 to 1982. His best placings was a 5th at Michigan, June 16, 1974 and a 9th at Talladega, August 11, 1974. He was also a regular competitor at the Nashville Speedway in the late model division. Many times rushing to appear at the Grand Ole Opry after running the Saturday night feature race. He raced late model stock cars from 1965 until a month before he died.

His 1976 No. 1 hit, "El Paso City", revisited the gunfighter's legend.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 683-685. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982, just two months before suffering his third heart attack (he had also suffered heart attacks in 1969 and 1981). He underwent a quadruple bypass at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. , but died Dec.

8, 1982.