- Mel Street
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Mel Street Birth name King Malachi Street Born October 21, 1935 Origin Rowe, Virginia Died October 21, 1978 (aged 45) Genres Country Occupations Singer-songwriter Instruments Guitar Years active 1972–1978 King Malachi Street (October 21, 1935 – October 21, 1978), commonly known as Mel Street, was an American country music singer.
Contents
Biography
Street was born in Rowe, Virginia to a coal mining family.[1] Publications cite his year of birth as 1933, although his family maintains that he was born in 1935.[2] He began performing on western Virginia and West Virginia radio shows at the age of sixteen. Street subsequently worked as a radio tower electrician in Ohio and as a nightclub performer in the Niagara Falls area. He moved back to West Virginia in 1963 to open up an auto body shop.[3]
From 1968 to 1972, Street hosted his own show on a Bluefield, West Virginia television station.[4] He recorded his first single, "Borrowed Angel," in 1970 for a small regional record label. A larger label, Royal American Records, picked it up in 1972, and it became a top-10 Billboard hit. He recorded the biggest hit of his career, "Lovin' on Back Streets", in 1973.
Street continued to flourish throughout the mid-1970s, recording several hits such as "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man," "Forbidden Angel," "I Met a Friend of Yours Today," "If I Had a Cheatin' Heart," and "Smokey Mountain Memories". He signed with Mercury Records in 1978. But, suffering from clinical depression and alcoholism, he committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, on October 21, 1978, his 45th birthday. Sadly he had a record debut on the country charts on October 21 as well, a prophetic song called "Just Hangin' On".[5]
Discography
Albums
Year Album US Country Label 1972 Borrowed Angel 14 Metromedia Country 1973 The Town Where You Live /
Walk Softly On the Bridges37 1974 Two Way Street 37 GRT 1975 Smokey Mountain Memories 16 1976 Mel Street's Greatest Hits 26 Country Colors — 1977 Mel Street 45 Polydor 1978 Country Soul 47 Mel Street — Mercury 1980 Many Moods of Mel 61 Sunbird Singles
Year Single Chart Positions Album US Country CAN Country 1972 "Borrowed Angel" 7 9 Borrowed Angel "Lovin' On Back Streets" 5 8 1973 "Walk Softly On the Bridges" 11 6 The Town Where You Live /
Walk Softly On the Bridges"The Town Where You Live" 38 58 "Lovin' On Borrowed Time" 11 7 Two Way Street 1974 "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man" 15 — "Forbidden Angel" 16 47 Smokey Mountain Memories 1975 "Smokey Mountain Memories" 13 43 "Even If I Have to Steal" 17 17 "(This Ain't Just Another) Lust Affair" 23 — 1976 "The Devil in Your Kisses (And the Angel in Your Eyes)" 32 — Mel Street's Greatest Hits "I Met a Friend of Your's Today" 10 — Country Colors "Looking Out My Window Through the Pain" 24 — 1977 "Rodeo Bum" 56 — "Barbara Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" 19 — Mel Street (1977) "Close Enough for Lonesome" 15 — 1978 "If I Had a Cheating Heart" 9 — Country Soul "Shady Rest" 24 — "Just Hangin' On" 68 — Mel Street (1978) 1979 "The One Thing My Lady Never Puts Into Words" 17 — Many Moods of Mel 1980 "Tonight Let's Sleep On It Baby" 30 — "Who'll Turn Out the Lights" 36 — 1981 "Slip Away" (w/ Sandy Powell) 48 — Footnotes
- ^ Huey, Steve. "Mel Street". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/artist/mel-street-p30180/biography. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
- ^ Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 23.
- ^ Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 46.
- ^ Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 51.
- ^ Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 243.
References
- Huey, Steve. (2003). Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, & Stephen Erlewine. "Mel Street (King Malachi Street)." All Music Guide to Country, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003. ISBN 0-87930-760-9
- Schuler, Dennis Sr. and Larry J. Delp. "Mel Street - A Country Legend", Charleston, WV: Mountain State Press, 2002. ISBN 0-941092-47-X
External links
Categories:- 1933 births
- 1978 deaths
- People from Grundy, Virginia
- American male singers
- American country singers
- Musicians who committed suicide
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