Ben Peters

Ben James Peters^[1] (born Greenville, Mississippi, June 20, 1933; died Nashville, Tennessee, May 25, 2005) was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 40 of his songs and 4 of them went to #1 on the American country charts.^[2] Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.

Peters was briefly a recording artist himself; his only charting hit was his own composition "San Francisco is a Lonely Town", which hit #46 on the country charts in 1969.^[3]

Notable Compositions

• "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" (w/Vivian Keith); first recorded in 1967 by Duane Dee in a version which reached #44 on the Billboard country singles chart early in 1968,^[4] the 1975 version by Freddy Fender was a #1 country and pop hit; it won a Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year in 1975.
• "Turn the World Around" (1967) was a #1 country hit for Eddy Arnold.
• "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" was a 1971 #1 country hit for Charley Pride; it also went to #21 on the American pop charts. It won the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Country Song.
• "It's Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer" was a 1972 #1 country hit for Charley Pride.
• "Love Put a Song in My Heart" (1975) was a #1 country hit for Johnny Rodriguez.
• "More to Me" (1977) was a #1 country hit for Charley Pride.
• "Daytime Friends" (1977) was a #1 country hit for Kenny Rogers.
• "You're So Good When You're Bad" (1982) was a #1 country hit for Charley Pride.

References