Richard Leigh (songwriter)

Richard Leigh (born 1951 in Washington, D.C.) is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is best known for penning "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (sharing credit with Crystal Gayle). In 1978 he received a Grammy Award for "Best Country Song" for the popular song. It was nominated in both pop and country categories and reached number one on both charts. When queried about where the title of "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" came from, Richard says that he had a dog when he was growing up that had one brown eye and one blue eye, and he just thought it would be fun to write a song about the oddity.

His first number one song was "I'll Get Over You" (1976), also sung by Crystal Gayle. Other prominent singers who have brought his songs number one status over the years include Billy Dean, Mickey Gilley, Reba McEntire, Steve Wariner, and Don Williams. Kathy Mattea had another number one hit with "Come From The Heart " in 1990. In 1999 the Dixie Chicks recorded Leigh's "Cold Day in July" for their album "Fly", reaching Number 9 on the country music charts in 2000.

Leigh was raised in Virginia, and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a graduate of Virginia Highlands Community College and Virginia Commonwealth University. [ [http://www.richardleigh.com/biography/bio.htm Bio] ] He has been nominated for songwriter of the year seven times and in 1994 he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame.

Recording artist

In 2002 Richard Leigh began a new phase on his career by recording his own material. To date, he has released three solo albums. He released "Black Tie" in 2002, his first full-length CD release on which he performed as both singer and songwriter. All songs were cowritten with Layng Martine Jr. (except "The Barter Theatre Song" which was written by Leigh). The CD includes some of his classics including "The Greatest Man I Never Knew", along with new material.

According to music attorney Rod Phelps, Leigh tells the story that "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" was based on the story of his dad's life, Lt. Col. Leigh, who was a defrocked Episcopal minister who went to Europe as Gen. Eisenhower's head of supplies. Col. Leigh wrote a book called, "48 Million Tons To Eisenhower" setting forth all of the details of supplying the Allied troops after the invasion at Normandy. Although married, Col. Leigh fell in love with a French girl and brought her back to the States, where he settled her down only a few miles from his other family. Col. Leigh had two children by this lady, with Richard being the second born. When Richard was about three years old, he and his brother came home to find that Col. Leigh had stabbed Richard's mother to death and then hanged himself from the rafters in their home. Richard says he has searched for years trying to find out more about his father and what possessed him to take such action, hence the song, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew".

Richard released "Eiffel Tower Days" in 2004 and contains "Don’t it Make my Brown Eyes Blue". He s third album, featuring Leigh on guitar and singing, "King of Cry", appeared in 2006. His albums are marketed through his website.

List of number one songs

Number Ones on "Billboard's" US Country Music Chart unless otherwise noted.
*^AReached #1 on U.S. "Radio & Records" country singles charts.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.richardleigh.com/ Online Home of Richard Leigh]
* [http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/leigh.html Nashville Songwriters Foundation - Hall of Fame Profile]
* [http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=fd1owuqHI1A Interview]