Baker Knight

Baker Knight (b. Thomas Baker Knight Jr., Jul. 4, 1933 - Oct. 12, 2005) was an American musician and songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama.

Born in 1933, Knight's father died in 1939, and he was raised primarily by relatives. He learned to play guitar while serving in the Air Force, and then attended the University of Alabama, where he wrote music in his spare time. In 1956 he founded a rockabilly group, The Knightmares; their debut single, "Bop Boogie to the Blues", was released on Kit Records that year. The next release, "Bring My Cadillac Back", was a local hit and was picked up for national distribution by Decca Records, but radio stations refused to play it because it served as unpaid blatant advertising for Cadillac. Decca held on to Knight and had him release three solo records which featured arrangements by Ray Ellis, "Reelin' and Rockin' (Bippin' and Boppin' Over You)", "Just a Little Bit More", and "Love-A, Love-A, Love-A". None of them sold well, and he was dropped from the label.

Knight moved to Hollywood in 1958 to start a career in film, but this endeavor failed. While there, he befriended Eddie Cochran and Cochran's girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Seeley, who helped him get work as a songwriter in his own right. Knight wrote the song "Lonesome Town", which became a hit for Rick Nelson in 1958, as did the B-side, Knight's "I got a Feeling". Nelson continued to record Knight's songs, many of which became hits. However, he refused to let Nelson record his tune "Just Relax", which he instead released as a solo single in 1959, with Cochran on guitar, on Coral Records. Neither this single nor the next, "Pretty Little Girl", sold, and Coral dropped him as well.

Knight then wrote the song "The Wonder of You" for Perry Como, but Ray Peterson recorded the song instead at the behest of Como's arranger Dick Pierce, and the song became a hit in the U.S. and U.K. Elvis Presley later recorded this song as well, to even greater success. Knight continued to record solo with RCA, Chess, Reprise, and Challenger, never with success.

In 1966, Dean Martin picked up "Somewhere There's a Someone", one of eleven of Knight's songs he would cover; Frank Sinatra also recorded a handful of Knight tunes, including "Anytime at All". He also wrote psychedelic music for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band later in the 1960s.

In the 1970s Knight turned to country music, writing songs for Ernest Ashworth, Hank Williams, Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave & Sugar, and Mickey Gilley, whose #1 hit "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" won Knight the Academy of Country Music's Song of the Year in 1976. Knight's last solo release was in 1977 with "If Only", on Warner Bros. Records.

In 1985, Knight was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, and his output decreased considerably. In the 1990s he set up his own home studio and self-released several solo albums through his website, including "The Way I Hear it", "Music Is My Woman", and "Music for Romantic Dreamers", the last all instrumentals. He published a memoir entitled "A Piece of the Big-Time" just before his death on October 12, 2005.

Singles

References

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dbfoxq8kld0e~T1 Baker Knight] at Allmusic