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Biography
Refimprove|date=March 2010Infobox musical artist |name = Hank Thompson|image = HankThompson 1.jpg|caption = Hank Thompson and The Brazos Valley Boys|image_size = ||background = solo_singer|birth_name = Henry William Thompson|Born = September 3, 1925|death_date = Death date and age|2007|11|6|1925|9|3|origin = Waco, Texas , United States of America|USA |instrument = electric guitar |genre = Country music|country Western swing |occupation = Singer-Songwriter|singer and songwriter |years_active = 1946& ndash;2007|label =|associated_acts =|website = http://www.hankthompson.com/ www.hankthompson.com Henry William Thompson (September 3, 1925 & ndash; November 6, 2007), known professionally as Hank Thompson , was an American country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades. He sold more than 60 million records worldwide.
Thompson's musical style, characterized as honky tonk Western swing , was a mixture of fiddles, electric guitar and steel guitar that featured his distinctive, smooth baritone vocals.
His backing band, The Brazos Valley Boys, was voted the top Country Western Band for 14 years in a row by Billboard Magazine| Billboard . The primary difference between his music and that of Bob Wills was that Thompson, who used the swing beat and instrumentation to enhance his vocals, discouraged the intense instrumental soloing from his musicians that Wills encouraged; however, the "Hank Thompson sound" exceeded Bob Wills in Top 40 country hits.
Although not as prominent on the top county charts in later decades, Thompson remained a recording artist and concert draw well into his 80s.
The 1987 novel Crazy Heart by Thomas Cobb (author)|Thomas Cobb was inspired by Thompson's life, specifically by his practice of picking up a local band to back him when he toured. In 2009 Cobb's novel was turned into a successful Crazy Heart|film directed by Scott Cooper (director)|Scott Cooper and starring Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges .cite book |author=Cobb, Thomas |title=Crazy Heart |publisher=Harper & Row |location=San Francisco |year=1987 |pages= |isbn=0-06-015803-4 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=cite web | url = http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/12/hank-thompson-crazy-hearts-reallife-bad-blake.html | title = Hank Thompson: 'Crazy Heart's' real-life Bad Blake | accessdate = 2011-04-04 | last = Lewis | first = Randy | date = 2009-12-28 | work = Los Angeles Times
Biography
Born in Waco, Texas , Thompson was interested in music from an early age and won several amateur harmonica contests. He decided to pursue his musical talent after serving in the United States Navy in World War II as a radioman and studying electrical engineering at Princeton University before his discharge. He had intended to continue those studies on the GI Bill following his 1946 discharge and return to Waco. Later that year, after having a regional hit with his first single was "Whoa Sailor" for Blue Bonnet Records, he chose to pursue a full time musical career.
Thompson began singing in a plaintive honky tonk style similar to that of Ernest Tubb but desiring to secure more engagements in the dance halls of the Southwest, reconfigured his band, the Brazos Valley Boys, to play a "light" version of the Western swing sound that Bob Wills and others made famous, emphasizing the dance beat and meticulous arrangements.
From 1947 to 1965, he recorded for Capitol Records , then joined Warner Bros. Records , where he remained from 1966 through 1967. From 1968 through 1980, he recorded for Dot Records and its successors, ABC Dot and MCA Records . In 1997, Thompson released Hank Thompson and Friends , a collection of solo tracks and duets with some of country music's most popular performers. In 2000, he released a new album, Seven Decades , on the Hightone label. The title reflected his recording history during the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
Thompson was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997. He continued touring throughout the U.S. until shortly before he became ill. Often, he worked with a reconstituted version of the Brazos Valley Boys that included a few original members.
Retirement and death
On November 1, 2007, Thompson canceled the rest of his 2007 "Sunset Tour" and retired from singing, two days after being released from a Texas hospital and diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer . He went into hospice care at his home in Keller, Texas . Thompson's last performance had been on October 8, 2007 in his birthplace of Waco, Texas. He died a month later on November 6, 2007 from lung cancer, aged eighty-two.
According to his spokesman Tracy Pitcox, also president of Heart of Texas Records, Thompson requested that no funeral be held. On November 14, a "celebration of life," open to both fans and friends, took place at Billy Bob's Texas , a Fort Worth, Texas country and Western nightclub that bills itself as The World's Largest Honky Tonk. http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/music-news-story/ar/_a/honky-tonk-great-hank-thompson-dies/20071107120409990001? ncid=NWS00010000000001 "Honky Tonk Great Hank Thompson Dies" - Associated Press, 7 November 2007
Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame (1989 Inductee)
Notes
reflist
References
Rumble, John. (1998). "Hank Thompson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music . Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.& nbsp;536–7.
External links
http://www.hankthompson.com/ Official Web site
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/hank-thompson Thompson at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2878915.ece Obituary in The Times of London , 16 November 2007
http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/famousperson/thompson/2667799 Hank Thompson obituary and tribute
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Persondata | NAME =Thompson, Hank | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =September 3, 1925 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH =November 6, 2007 | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Hank Category:1925 births Category:2007 deaths Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Western swing performers Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Musicians from Oklahoma Category:Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:People from Waco, Texas Category:American bandleaders Category:Cancer deaths in Texas
