Keith Whitley

Infobox musical artist
Name = Keith Whitley

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Img_capt = Keith Whitley performs at Fan Fair, c. 1988
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Jackie Keith Whitley
Born = birth date|1955|7|1|mf=y
Died = death date and age|1989|5|9|1955|7|1|mf=y
Origin = Sandy Hook, Kentucky, U.S.
Instrument = Guitar, vocals
Genre = Country
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1970–1989
Label = RCA
BNA
Associated_acts = Clinch Mountain Boys
New South
Lorrie Morgan

Keith Whitley (born Jackie Keith Whitley July 1, 1954 in Sandy Hook, Kentucky, died May 9, 1989) was an American country music singer. Whitley's brief career in mainstream country music lasted from 1984 till his death in 1989, but he continues to influence an entire generation of singers and songwriters. He charted nineteen singles on the "Billboard" country charts, including five Number Ones in a row: "Don't Close Your Eyes", "When You Say Nothing at All", "I'm No Stranger to the Rain", "I Wonder Do You Think of Me" and "It Ain't Nothin'".

Musical career

Whitley, along with Ricky Skaggs, was discovered by Ralph Stanley when the two teenagers sang Stanley Brothers songs as an opening act for the Clinch Mountain Boys. The two soon joined Ralph's band. Whitley also played with JD Crowe and the New South in the mid-seventies. During this period, he established himself as one of the most versatile and talented lead singers in bluegrass. His singing was heavily influenced by Carter Stanley and Lefty Frizzell.Whitley's first solo album, "A Hard Act to Follow," was released in 1984, and featured a more mainstream country style. While Whitley was working hard to achieve his own style, the songs he produced were inconsistent. Critics regarded the album as too erratic. Whitley honed his sound within the next few years for his next album, "L.A. to Miami".

L.A. to Miami, released in 1986 would give him his first Top 20 country hit single, "Miami, My Amy." The song was followed by three more hit songs: "Ten Feet Away," "Homecoming '63," and "Hard Livin." The album also included "On The Other Hand" and "Nobody In His Right Mind Would've Left Her." "On The Other Hand" was pitched to Keith before Randy Travis released the song as a single and when Keith's version wasn't released as a single, Randy released his in 1986, as did George Strait with "Nobody In His Right Mind Would've Left Her"

During his tour to promote "L.A. to Miami", he met and started a romantic relationship with Lorrie Morgan, a fellow country singer. The pair were married in November, 1986, and they had their only child, a son, Jesse Keith Whitley, in June 1987. Keith also adopted Lorrie's daughter, Morgan, from her first marriage.

During the new recording sessions in 1987, Whitley started feeling that the songs he was doing were not up to his standards, so he approached RCA and asked if the project of fifteen songs could be shelved. He asked if he could have more of a say in the songs and production. The new album, titled "Don't Close Your Eyes", was released in 1988, and the album did extremely well. The album contained one of the many songs that Whitley had a hand in writing in his years at Tree Publishing, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now." Also on the album was a remake of Lefty Frizzell's classic song, "I Never Go Around Mirrors," and the song became a huge hit at Whitley's concerts. The first three singles off of the album -- "When You Say Nothing at All," "I'm No Stranger to the Rain," and the title cut -- all reached number 1 on Billboard Magazine's country charts during the fall of 1988 and the winter of 1989. "I'm No Stranger To The Rain" also earned Whitley his first and only Country Music Association award.

In early 1989, Keith approached Joe Galante with the intention of releasing "I Never Go Around Mirrors" as a radio single. Joe approved of the musical flexibility that Keith achieved with the song, however, he suggested that Keith record something new and more upbeat. The result was a song Keith had optioned for his previous album called "I Wonder, Do You Think Of Me?", and was to result in his next album release.

Alcoholism and death

Keith Whitley was a longtime alcoholic, who had begun drinking early in his career at Bluegrass concerts -- long before he was legally allowed to drink alcohol. Many times he had tried to overcome his alcoholism, but these methods had failed. Whitley preferred to drink alone, making it tough for anyone to detect that he had a drinking problem.

On the morning of May 9, 1989, after a weekend of drinking and partying with friends, Whitley woke up and spoke with his mother briefly on the phone. He was visited by his brother-in-law, and the two had coffee and planned a day of golf, after which, Keith had planned to start writing songs for him and Lorrie to possibly record when she returned from her tour. His brother-in-law departed, telling Keith to be ready within an hour. Upon returning, Whitley was found face down on his bed and pronounced dead at 11:16 a.m.Fact|date=September 2008

The cause of death was alcohol poisoning, and the coroner report stated that his blood alcohol level was .477 (five times over the legal limit to drive.) He was 33.

The day after his death, Music Row was lined with black ribbons in memory of Keith.

Posthumous career

Although Whitley's voice was silenced, his influence on country music has persisted long after his death. At the time of his death, he had just finished making his fourth and final studio album, "I Wonder Do You Think of Me". The album was released three months after his death, on August 1, 1989. The album produced two more #1 hits, with the title track and "It Ain't Nothin'." "I'm Over You" also saw the top ten in the spring of 1990, reaching No. 3.

In 1990, a collection of Keith's greatest hits was released. It has gone on to sell more than three million copies.

Two new songs were added to "Greatest Hits": The first, "Tell Lorrie I Love Her" was written and recorded at home by Keith for Lorrie, originally intended as a work tape for Keith's friend Curtis 'Mr. Harmony' Young to sing at Whitley's wedding. The second was "'Til A Tear Becomes A Rose", a 1987 demo taken from Tree that originally featured harmony vocals by childhood friend Ricky Skaggs. Lorrie Morgan, with creative control and license to Whitley's namesake, recorded her voice alongside Keith's, and released it as a single, which rose to No. 13 and won them 1991's CMA award for Best Vocal Collaboration.

RCA also released a compilation of performance clips (from his days in the Ralph Stanley-Fronted Clinch Mountain Boys), interviews, and some previously unreleased material under the title "Kentucky Bluebird". The CD produced hits for Keith as well, including a duet with Earl Thomas Conley which rose to number #2 in the fall of 1994. "Kentucky Bluebird" is currently out of print.

In 1994, Whitley's widow Lorrie Morgan organized several of Whitley's friends in bluegrass and some of the big names in country at the time to record a tribute album to Whitley. The album included covers of Whitley's songs from artists such as Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, and Ricky Skaggs. The album also included several previously unreleased tracks recorded by Whitley in 1987. One of the songs was a duet that Lorrie and Keith did in the summer of 1987 called "I Just Want You". The tribute album credited Whitley with another award for reaching more than 500,000 copies.

However, the hit single to come from the tribute album was Alison Krauss & Union Station's rendition of "When You Say Nothing at All", which rose to #3 on the Billboard country charts.

In 1995, the CD "Wherever You Are Tonight" was released, produced by Lorrie Morgan, featuring cleaned-up demos of 1986-1988, with crisper 1990's recording techniques and a full orchestra. The CD and single of the same name both did very well on the Billboard and R&R charts and brought "Super Hits" and "The Essential Keith Whitley" in 1996. "The Essential" contained the remastered and long since unavailable LP and Whitley's debut, the 6-Track "A Hard Act to Follow", and a scrapped song from 1986's "LA to Miami", "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight".

Whitley's legacy continues to shine since his passing in 1989; every year there is a memorial motorcycle ride from Sandy Hook, Kentucky to his resting place in Nashville, TN where hundreds gather to pay their respects.

Even in death, new fans come to know Keith and his music both mainsteam and bluegrass.Singers and songwriters today continue to use Keith as one of their main reasons for entering the music scene. Fact|date=July 2008 Mark Chesnutt is one of those singers who on his newest cd "Rollin With The Flow" did a cover of Keith's recording "She Never Got Me Over You".

Discography

Bluegrass Albums

*Cry From The Cross (Rebel,1971) "as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys"
*2nd Generation Bluegrass (Rebel,1971) "with Ricky Skaggs"
*Play Request (Rebel) "as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys"
*Live (Red Clay,1973) "as The New Tradition"
*Live (Ridge Runner,1973) "as Country Store"
*Live! at McClure, Virgina (Rebel,1975) "as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys"
*Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain(Hills Of Home) (Rebel,1975) "as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys"
*My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame (Rounder,1978) "as J.D. Crowe & the New south"
*Live in Tokyo (Trio,1978) "as J.D.Crowe & the New South : reissue on 1982(Rounder) titled “Live in Japan″"

Albums

*^A"Somewhere Between" was originally the title of the 1982 LP Recording by the then Keith Whitley fronted J.D. Crowe & The New South. "Sad Songs and Waltzes" is this album, essentially remastered, with re-dubbed recordings, new harmonies, and a few new Whitley solo demos from around that time frame (to be able to call this a Whitley solo effort.) This is also credited as the album that attracted attention from RCA Records in early 1984.

*The song "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" was originally a song on the B-side song of the 1984 single release "Turn Me to Love". It finally appeared on the 2002 release listed above "RCA Country Legends".

ingles

References

*cite web |url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/whitley_keith/bio.jhtml|title=Keith Whitley Biography
*cite web |url=http://www.larrycordle.com/discography.aspx |title=Listen - Took Down & Put Up |accessdate=2007-11-23|author=Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time |last=Cordle |first= Larry & Lonesome Standard Time
*cite book |last=Skinker |first=Chris|editor=Paul Kingsbury|title= The Encyclopedia of Country Music:Keith Whitley|origyear=1998|edition=1st|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York |pages=583-584