Dallas Frazier

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Dallas Frazier (born October 27, 1939 in Spiro, Oklahoma) is an American country musician and songwriter.

[edit] Biography

Frazier was born in Oklahoma but raised in Bakersfield, California. As a teenager, he played with Ferlin Husky and on the program Hometown Jamboree, and released his first single, "Space Command", at the age of fourteen in 1954.

Frazier's 1957 song "Alley Oop", later taken to #1 in the US by The Hollywood Argyles, was his first hit. After Hometown Jamboree went off the air, Frazier moved to Nashville, Tennessee and found work as a songwriter. Among his early successes was "Timber I'm Falling", a hit for Husky in 1964. In 1966, he released a solo album, Elvira, which yielded the hit singles "There Goes My Everything", "Ain't Had No Lovin'", and "I'm a People". His follow-up, 1967's Tell it Like it Is, was also a success.

Frazier became an oft-covered songwriter; his tunes were recorded by George Jones (who recorded an entire album of Frazier's songs in 1968), Engelbert Humperdinck, Jack Greene, Connie Smith, Willie Nelson, Brenda Lee, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Elvis Presley, Moe Bandy, Roy Head, Rodney Crowell, and Ronnie Hawkins. Many of the songs became hits into the 1980s; examples include the Oak Ridge Boys cover of "Elvira" and Emmylou Harris's version of "Beneath Still Waters". George Strait, Randy Travis, and Patty Loveless have all also recorded Frazier tunes. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1976.

In 1988, Frazier left the music industry and became a minister.

[edit] Discography

  • Elvira (Capitol, 1966)
  • Tell it Like it Is (Capitol, 1967)
  • Singing My Songs (RCA, 1970)
  • My Baby Packed Up My Mind and Left Me (RCA, 1971)

[edit] References

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