| Hank Locklin | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lawrence Hankins Locklin |
| Born | February 15, 1918 McLellan, Florida, USA |
| Died | March 8, 2009 (aged 91) Brewton, Alabama, USA |
| Genres | country music |
| Occupations | singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | guitar |
| Years active | 1949–2009 |
| Labels | RCA, 4 Star Records |
| Notable instruments | |
| Guitar | |
Lawrence Hankins Locklin (February 15, 1918–March 8, 2009), better known as Hank Locklin, was an American country music singer-songwriter. A member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly 50 years, Locklin had a long recording career with RCA Victor and scored big with the hits, "Please Help Me, I'm Falling", "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On" and "Geisha Girl" from 1957–60. His singles charted from 1949–71.
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Born in McLellan in the Florida Panhandle, Locklin grew up working in the cotton fields to supplement his family’s low income. He began playing the guitar at the age of nine during his recovery after being seriously injured when hit by a school bus.
His first marriage to Willa Jean Murphy ended in divorce. In 1970 he married Anita Crooks of Brewton, Alabama. He had a son and four daughters, 12 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and a few close great nieces and nephews such as Sarah Locklin.[1]
Locklin was one of country music's early honky tonk singers. He first recorded for Royalty, a small label in northeast Texas, but soon moved to 4 Star Records, a regional country music label, before signing a long contract with the major RCA Victor . He had an estimated 15 million record sales worldwide and his songs were recorded by many other artists, including Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Roy Rogers, Dwight Yoakam and Dean Martin. He regularly appeared on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1960, making his final appearance in 2007.
He had 70 chart singles, including six number ones on Billboard's country chart. Locklin's biggest hits included "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On", "Geisha Girl" and his signature "Please Help Me, I'm Falling", which went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart. Billboard's 100th anniversary issue listed it as the second most successful country single of the rock and roll era. Other hits for Locklin included "Happy Journey" (1961), "Happy Birthday To Me" (1962) and "The Country Hall Of Fame" (1968).
In the 1960s he built a ranch house called The Singing L in the field in McClellan where he had picked cotton as a boy. He was later made the honorary mayor of the town.
Locklin had a strong following in Europe, and in Ireland—his popularity was such that in 1963 he recorded an album called Irish Songs Country Style. He has a fan club in Langeli, Bjerkreim, Norway. The obituary in The Times described Locklin as "the last remaining link between country music’s hillbilly roots and the lusher, modern pop sound of Nashville."[2]
In 2006, he appeared on the PBS special, Country Pop Legends in which he performed "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On," and "Please Help Me I'm Falling". Until his death at the age of 91 in 2009, he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry. Hank had recently released his 65th album, By the Grace of God, a collection of gospel songs.
He moved to Brewton, where he remained throughout his later years, and died there, at his house, in the early morning on March 8, 2009.[3]
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Foreign Love | RCA Victor | |
| 1960 | Please Help Me I'm Falling | ||
| 1962 | Happy Journey | ||
| A Tribute to Roy Acuff–King of Country Music | |||
| 1963 | The Ways of Life | ||
| 1964 | Irish Songs, Country Style | ||
| Hank Locklin Sings Hank Williams | |||
| 1965 | Hank Locklin Sings Eddy Arnold | ||
| Once Over Lightly | |||
| The Best of Hank Locklin | |||
| 1966 | The Girls Get Prettier | 26 | |
| The Gloryland Way (w/ The Imperials) | |||
| 1967 | Send Me the Pillow You Dream On | ||
| Nashville Women | 36 | ||
| 1968 | Country Hall of Fame | 20 | |
| My Love Song for You | 40 | ||
| 1969 | Softly | 32 | |
| Lookin' Back | |||
| 1970 | Hank Locklin with Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass (w/ Danny Davis) |
||
| Bless Her Heart...I Love Her | |||
| 1972 | Mayor of McLellan Florida | ||
| 1975 | Hank Locklin | MGM | |
| 1976 | Golden Hits | Plantation | |
| 1977 | There Never Was a Time | ||
| Country Hall of Fame | Top Spin | ||
| 2004 | Generations in Song | Coldwater | |
| 2006 | By the Grace of God: The Gospel Album | Yell |
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | |||
| 1949 | "The Same Sweet Girl" | 8 | singles only | |
| "Knocking at Your Door" | ||||
| "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On" | ||||
| "Our Love Will Show the Way" | ||||
| 1950 | "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" | |||
| "Midnight Tears" | ||||
| "Paper Face" | ||||
| "Come Share the Sunshine with Me" | ||||
| "Holy Train" | ||||
| "No One's Sweeter Than You" | ||||
| "Year of Time" | ||||
| 1951 | "Song of the Whispering Leaves" | |||
| "Your House of Love Won't Stand" | ||||
| "Crazy Over You" | ||||
| "Stumpy Joe" | ||||
| 1952 | "Tell Me You Love Me" | |||
| "Down Texas Way" | ||||
| "Harvest Is Ripe" | ||||
| "Who Is Knocking at My Heart" | ||||
| 1953 | "Alone at the Table for Two" | |||
| "Crazy Over You" | ||||
| "Let Me Be the One" | 1 | |||
| 1955 | "Your Heart Is an Island" | |||
| "Who Am I to Cast First Stone" | ||||
| 1956 | "Why Baby Why" | 9 | ||
| "Good Woman's Love" | ||||
| "Seven or Eleven" | ||||
| "She's Better Than Most" | ||||
| 1957 | "Fourteen Karate Gold" | |||
| "Goin' Home All by Myself" | ||||
| "Geisha Girl" | 4 | 66 | Foreign Love | |
| "Livin' Alone" | flip | Please Help Me, I'm Falling | ||
| 1958 | "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" | 5 | 77 | |
| "It's a Little More Like Heaven" | 3 | |||
| "Blue Grass Skirt" | flip | Foreign Love | ||
| "That Inner Glow" | singles only | |||
| "I Gotta Talk to Your Heart" | ||||
| 1959 | "Foreign Car" | Please Help Me, I'm Falling | ||
| "Border of the Blues" | single only | |||
| "Blues in Advance" | Please Help Me, I'm Falling | |||
| 1960 | "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" | 1 | 8 | |
| 1961 | "One Step Ahead of My Past" | 14 | singles only | |
| "From Here to There to You" | 12 | |||
| "You're the Reason" | 14 | 107 | Happy Journey | |
| "Happy Birthday to Me" | 7 | |||
| 1962 | "Happy Journey" | 10 | ||
| "We're Gonna Go Fishin'" | 14 | The Ways of Life | ||
| "Wabash Cannonball" | A Tribute to Roy Acuff | |||
| 1963 | "Flyin' South" | 23 | singles only | |
| 1964 | "Wooden Soldier" | 41 | ||
| "Followed Closely by My Teardrops" | 15 | |||
| "I Was Coming Home to You" | ||||
| 1965 | "I'm Blue" | |||
| "Forty Nine, Fifty One" | 32 | |||
| 1966 | "The Girls Get Prettier (Every Day)" | 35 | The Girls Get Prettier | |
| "Insurance" | 48 | single only | ||
| "The Best Part of Loving You" | 69 | Nashville Women | ||
| 1967 | "Hasta Luego (See You Later)" | 41 | ||
| "Nashville Women" | 73 | |||
| "The Country Music Hall of Fame" | 8 | Country Music Hall of Fame | ||
| 1968 | "Love Song for You"A | 40 | My Love Song for You | |
| "Everlasting Love" | 57 | single only | ||
| "Lovin' You (The Way I Do)" | 62 | My Love Song for You | ||
| 1969 | "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day" |
35 | Softly | |
| "Jeannie" | single only | |||
| 1970 | "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" (w/ Danny Davis) | 68 | Hank Locklin with Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass |
|
| "Flying South" (w/ Danny Davis) | 56 | |||
| "Bless Her Heart...I Love Her" | 68 | Bless Her Heart...I Love Her | ||
| 1971 | "She's as Close as I Can Get to Loving You" | 61 | Mayor of McLellan Florida | |
| "Only a Fool" | ||||
| "Softly" | singles only | |||
| 1972 | "Love Has a Mind of Its Own" | |||
| "I Forgot to Live Today" | ||||
| "Goodbye Old Ryman" | ||||
| 1973 | "Before My Time" | |||
| "Jonas P. Jones" | ||||
| 1974 | "Wildwood Flower" | |||
| "Send Me Your Coffee Cup" | Hank Locklin | |||
| 1975 | "Sweetest Mistake" | |||
| "Irish Eyes" | ||||
| 1976 | "Baby I Need You" | There Never Was a Time | ||
| "Daytime Love Affair" | ||||
| "You Love Me Don'tcha" | ||||
| 1977 | "There Never Was a Time" | |||
| Year | Single | Artist | US Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | "Chet's Tune" | Some of Chet's Friends | 38 |