By Mary Colurso, al.com | Billy Edd Wheeler, a country singer-songwriter who created hits for Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley and other stars, has died at age 91. Wheeler — best known as the co-writer of “Jackson,” a duet made famous by Cash and June Carter — died on Monday, Sept. 16, according to his family. The West Virginia native and North Carolina resident was a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, inducted in 2000 and touted as “Renaissance artist” by the organization.
“Billy Edd Wheeler is known as a country recording artist and the writer of country hits for Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr. and others. But songwriting is only one facet of this Renaissance artist’s life,” the hall of fame says on its website. “Wheeler has been a poet and storyteller, a Navy pilot, a playwright, a teacher, a painter, a novelist, a humor writer and a magazine editor. Like Kris Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein, he seemed capable of fulfilling any creative pursuit at any point in his life.”
Wheeler earned 13 awards from ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and wrote songs recorded by more than 100 artists, according to his website. He also was honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014, during its Poets & Prophets Series.
Wheeler’s extensive songbook includes “It’s Midnight” (a 1974 single for Presley), “Coward of the County” (a 1979 hit for Rogers), “Gimme Back My Blues” (released in 1978 by Jerry Reed) and “A Baby Again” (a 1969 single for Hank Williams Jr.). The Kingston Trio had a folk hit with Wheeler’s “The Reverend Mr. Black” in 1963, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard charts.
Wheeler’s website also touts his songwriting credits on Johnny Cash’s “Blistered,” Pat Boone’s “Rock Boll Weevil,” Glen Campbell’s “Anne,” Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s “You Blow My Mind” and many more. His greatest claim to fame came with “Jackson,” however, written with Jerry Leiber of the songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller.
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Go here to read more on the live of Mr. Wheeler:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/country-music-hitmaker-dead-at-91-the-world-has-lost-a-treasure/
Photo: Billy Edd Wheeler | Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
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