I was Board so I made a tribute to
the Statler Brothers, its not the best video ever but it'll do. Also
this is a Different version of the original song...
Donald Sidney "Don" Reid (born 1945 in Staunton, Virginia) is the retired lead singer and main songwriter of the Americancountry music vocal group, The Statler Brothers.[1] He wrote or co-wrote 40 of the Statler Brothers' 66 songs that made the Billboard country chart, including the No. 1 hit "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine."
In the early 1960s, Reid replaced Joe McDorman at lead vocals in a
quartet that was changing its name from the Four Star Quartet to the
Kingsmen. They would go on to become the Statler Brothers. McDorman had
formed the group in 1955 with Lew DeWitt and Don's older brother Harold Reid while the three were teenagers.
Since the Statler Brothers' retirement in 2002, Reid has pursued a second career as an author, with seven books to his credit: Heroes and Outlaws of the Bible, Sunday Morning Memories, You'll Know It's Christmas When..., O Little Town, The Statler Brothers: Random Memories, which was co-authored with his brother, Harold Reid, One-Lane Bridge and The Mulligans of Mt. Jefferson.
He, along with fellow ex-Statlers Harold Reid and Phil Balsley, are elders in their local Presbyterian church
Harold Reid (born August 21, 1939 in Staunton, Virginia) is the former bass singer for the country vocal group The Statler Brothers.
He wrote or co-wrote 17 songs that were hit singles for the group,
including "Bed of Roses" and the No. 1 hit "Do You Know You Are My
Sunshine."
The latter was written with his younger brother, Don Reid, the lead singer for the group. The Statler Brothers disbanded and retired following a farewell tour in 2002.
Lewis Calvin "Lew" DeWitt (March 12, 1938 - August 15, 1990) was an Americancountry musicsinger and composer.
He was also a well known country music and gospel tenor singer who was
also one of the original tenor vocalists of the Statler Brothers
Quartet.
For most of his career DeWitt sang tenor for The Statler Brothers. Songs he wrote for the group include "Flowers on the Wall,"
"Things," "Since Then," "The Strand," "The Movies," and "Chet Atkins'
Hand."
He retired from the group in 1982 due to health problems stemming
from Crohn's disease, from which he had suffered since adolescence. DeWitt was replaced by Jimmy Fortune as the group's tenor.
In 1968, Columbia Records released two solo recordings by DeWitt:
"She Went A Little Bit Farther" and "Brown Eyes" (the latter was penned
by DeWitt).
After leaving the Statler Brothers, DeWitt made a brief
comeback as a solo artist, touring and releasing two albums: On My Own (1985)[1] and Here to Stay (1986). He also charted a solo single on the country charts: the No. 77 "You'll Never Know" in 1985. DeWitt died in 1990.
"Elizabeth" recently was a top bluegrass release for Dailey & Vincent.
He spent 21 years touring, singing, and performing with them until Don,
Harold and Phil, the other three members of the group retired in 2002.
Since then he has continued an extensive performance schedule in the
U.S. and Canada. He has continued as a songwriter and has recorded a
number of projects in Nashville.
Named after a brand of tissues, the four members of the Statler Brothers
did not in fact share a fraternal bond; what they did share, however,
was the distinction of being one of the most successful vocal harmony
groups in the history of country music.
Formed in the group's home base
of Staunton, VA, in 1955, the Statlers were originally a church trio
comprised of bass vocalist Harold Reid (born August 21, 1939), baritone
Phil Balsley (August 8, 1939), and tenor Lew DeWitt (March 8, 1938). In
1960, Reid's younger brother Don (born June 5, 1945) signed on to take
the lead vocal reins, and the quartet performed gospel music under the
name the Kingsmen.
After arranging a meeting with the promotional
department for a local Johnny Cash concert, the Kingsmen were asked to
open the performance. Cash was so impressed that he invited the group to
join the tour, and after changing their name to the Statler Brothers,
they remained on the road with Cash from 1963 to 1971.
The Statlers
signed to Columbia Records in 1964 and a year later scored a huge
country and pop hit with DeWitt's "Flowers on the Wall," which also lent
its name to their 1966 debut album. 1967's The Statler Brothers Sing
the Big Hits held true to its title's promise, generating a pair of Top
Ten singles in "Ruthless" and "You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith, Too."
In
1969, the quartet moved to Mercury Records, where they remained for
over two decades; their first single for the label, 1970's "Bed of
Rose's," was a Top Ten hit. In the same year, they held their first
Fourth of July picnic; for decades, the celebration remained an annual
holiday staple, drawing tens of thousands of fans each summer.
Throughout the first half of the 1970s, the Statlers remained fixtures
on the Top 40 charts thanks to a string of nostalgic singles like 1972's
"Do You Remember These" and "The Class of '57," 1973's "Carry Me Back,"
and 1974's "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott."
Their LPs of the
period were often concept records: 1972's The Statler Brothers Sing
Country Symphonies in E Major was whimsically formatted like an
orchestral performance (complete with side-break "intermission"), while
1975's joint release Holy Bible/Old Testament and Holy Bible/New
Testament fulfilled a long-standing dream to record a gospel project.
1973's Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School, on the other hand,
was a tongue-in-cheek effort recorded under the group's comic alias
Lester "Roadhog" Moran & the Cadillac Cowboys.
The
sentimental "I'll Go to My Grave Loving You" was a Top Five hit in 1975
and was included on the Statlers' first best-of compilation, released
later in the same year. After a series of Top Ten hits that included
1977's "The Movies" (another recurring Statler theme) and "I Was There,"
they earned their first chart-topper in 1978 with "Do You Know You Are
My Sunshine," from the album Entertainers...on & off the Record.
In
1980 the Statler Brothers celebrated their first decade on Mercury with
10th Anniversary, which featured the smash "Charlotte's Web," taken from
the film Smokey and the Bandit, Pt. 2, in which the group also
co-starred.
After 1982's The Legend Goes On, DeWitt was forced to
leave the group as a result of Crohn's disease; the illness ultimately
killed him on August 15, 1990.
The remaining Statlers tapped Jimmy
Fortune as his successor, and immediately Fortune earned the group its
second number one with his "Elizabeth" (an homage to actress Elizabeth
Taylor), from the album Today.
Their next two LPs, 1984's Atlanta Blue
and 1985's Pardners in Rhyme, were credited to simply the Statlers; each
record generated a number one hit -- "My Only Love" and "Too Much on My
Heart," respectively -- again composed by Fortune.
They returned as the
Statler Brothers for the 1986 inspirational release Radio Gospel
Favorites, followed later in the year by Four for the Show. 1987's Maple
Street Memories produced the Top Ten single "Forever"; 1989's "More
Than a Name on the Wall," which peaked at number six, was their last
significant hit.
They continued releasing albums, however, and in
addition to remaining a popular touring act in the 1990s, the Statler
Brothers also hosted a long-running variety show on TNN.
In 2002,
the Statler Brothers announced their retirement from the road. On
October 26, they played their last concert at the 10,000-seat Salem
Civic Center in Salem, VA, not far from Staunton, where they'd started
and where they continued to maintain their headquarters. ~Jason
Ankeny, All Music Guide
Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen.[1]
In 1963, when the song "Louie, Louie" by the garage rock band also called The Kingsmen
became famous, the group elected to bill themselves as The Statler
Brothers. Despite the name, only two members of the group (Don and
Harold Reid) are actual brothers and none have the surname of Statler.
The band, in fact, named themselves after a brand of facial tissue they had noticed in a hotel room (they joked that they could have turned out to be the Kleenex Brothers).[2]
DeWitt died on August 15, 1990, of heart and kidney disease, stemming from complications of Crohn's disease.[4]
The band's style was closely linked to their gospel roots. "We took
gospel harmonies," said Harold Reid, "and put them over in country
music."[1]
The group remained closely tied to their gospel roots, with a
majority of their records containing at least one gospel song. They
produced several albums containing only gospel music and recorded a
tribute song to the Blackwood Brothers, who influenced their music. The Statler Brothers also wrote a tribute song to Johnny Cash, who discovered them. The song was called "We Got Paid by Cash," and it reminisces about their time with Cash.[1]
Career
The Statler Brothers started their career at a performance at Lyndhurst Methodist Church near their hometown of Staunton.[1]
In 1964, they started an eight and a half year run with Johnny Cash as his opening act.[2]
This period of their career was memorialized in their song "We Got Paid
by Cash." They were featured regularly on Cash's hit show The Johnny Cash Show on ABC.
The show ran from 1969-1971.
Due to their expanding career the Statlers
left Cash's entourage in 1972 to pursue their own careers. They left
Cash on good terms.
Two of their best-known songs are "Flowers on the Wall," their first major hit that was composed and written by Lew DeWitt, and the socially conscious "Bed of Rose's." In the 1980s, the Statlers were a mainstay on TNN, where their videos were shown regularly. Also on TNN, between 1991 and 1998, they hosted their own show, The Statler Brothers Show, a weekly variety show which was the channel's top-rated program for its entire run.[5][6]
Throughout their career, much of their appeal was related to their
incorporation of comedy and parody into their musical act, thanks in
large part to the humorous talent of Harold Reid; they were frequently
nominated for awards for their comedy as well as their singing. They
recorded two comedy albums as Lester "Roadhog" Moran and the Cadillac
Cowboys, and one-half of one side of the album Country Music Then and Now was devoted to satirizing small-town radio stations' Saturday morning shows.
The Statler Brothers purchased and renovated their former elementary
school in Staunton, and occupied the complex for several years. The
complex consisted of offices for the group, a small museum and
auditorium, as well as an adjacent building which served as office space
for unrelated businesses. A garage was built to store the two tour
buses that the group had used for many years. The group has since sold
the building which has been converted back into a school.[citation needed]
In 1970, the group began performing at an annual Independence Day festival in Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton. The event lasted for 25 years and included many country music figures including Mel Tillis, Charley Pride
and many others. The event drew as many as 100,000 fans each year. The
group also honored their hometown with the song "Staunton, Virginia" on
their 1973 album Do You Love Me Tonight.
