Before it was over, some 20,000 people had filled the auditorium and the street outside for what was described as the largest funeral in Montgomerys history. [37], In August 1938, Elonzo Williams was temporarily released from the hospital. [clarification needed][20], The body was transported to Montgomery on January 2. While he was medically disqualified from military service after suffering a back injury caused by falling from a bull during a rodeo in Texas, his band members were all drafted to serve. The worker claimed that she sold Williams' notes to a representative of the Honky-Tonk Hall of Fame and the Rock-N-Roll Roadshow. The recordings were found by collector George Gimarc at radio station KSIB in Creston, Iowa. Best Answer. How Old Was Hank Williams Senior Died When He Died [95] That evening, when the announcer in Canton announced Williams' death to the gathered crowd, they started laughing because they thought it was just another excuse. A quick study, Williams learned how to play folk, country and, thanks to an African-American street musician named Rufus Payne, the blues. [128], In 2006, a janitor of Sony/ATV Music Publishing found in a dumpster the unfinished lyrics written by Williams that had been found in his car the night he died. Carr talked to Williams for the last time when they stopped at a restaurant in Bristol, Virginia. Carr requested a doctor for Williams, who was feeling the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he consumed on the way from Montgomery. [48] With Williams beginning to be recognized as a songwriter,[49] Sheppard became his manager and occasionally accompanied him on duets in some of his live concerts. Marshall gave Cunningham a list of his patients, including Hank Williams. [134] Gimarc contacted Williams' daughter Jett, and Colin Escott, writer of a biography book on Williams. [24] During the ceremony, Ernest Tubb sang "Beyond the Sunset" followed by Roy Acuff with "I Saw the Light" and Red Foley with "Peace in the Valley. Jett was then legally adopted. His life and music received a fresh look in 2019 with Ken Burns' 16-hour documentary, Country Music, which prominently featured the icon in an episode titled "The Hillbilly Shakespeare.". Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. [32] The Cadillac in which Williams was riding just before he died is now preserved at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of performing, Williams died 70 years ago today, on Jan. 1, 1953. Heart failure and hard living did him in. There he sang "Hey Good Lookin'", and the next week Como opened the show singing the same song, with apologies to Williams. James Ellis Garner later played fiddle for him. [70], In November 1951, Williams fell during a hunting trip with his fiddler Jerry Rivers in Franklin, Tennessee. The investigating officer in Oak Hill declared later that Carr told him that he had pulled over at the Skyline Drive-In restaurant outside Oak Hill, and found Williams dead. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. One woman was carried out after she collapsed. Williams married singer Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. After recording "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. [102], Williams has been called "the King of Country Music" in popular culture. He also wrote a number of religious songs under the pseudonym Luke the Drifter. On . They moved to a new house on the other side of town on Rose Street, which Williams' mother soon turned into another boarding house. As a boy, Williams was the musical protg of Rufus Payne, an African American street performer who went by the name Tee-Tot and busked on the streets of Georgiana and Greenville, Alabama. Hank Williams dead: How old was Hank Williams when he died? The Opry eventually fired him, and in 1952, he and Sheppard divorced. He died of a heart attack in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor in the backseat of a car, probably in West Virginia, while being driven from Knoxville, Tennessee, to a concert in Canton, Ohio. [88] The two arrived at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Carr requested a doctor for Williams, who was affected by the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he had consumed on the way to Knoxville. Hank Williams was just 29-years-old when he died, but had lived quite a life in his short years. Chief Winfred Patterson who arrested Hank said to the Alabama Journal in 1971 that Hank was "more or less having DT's (delirium tremens). Long plagued by alcoholism, Williams fell ill at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville on the last night of 1952. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He was very kind, and said Oak Hill General Hospital was six miles on my left," and that would place him in Mount Hope. The station's owner called the local police chief. [62] Although the real identity of Luke the Drifter was supposed to be anonymous, Williams often performed part of the material of the recordings on stage. His first wife and his mother were the driving forces behind having the marriage declared invalid, and they pursued the matter for years. Williams was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most significant country music artists of all time. "Long Gone Daddy: A Biography of Hank Williams, Country Music's Tragic Hero". After school and on weekends, Williams sang and played his Silvertone guitar on the sidewalk in front of the WSFA radio studio. Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia. Omissions? Carr later kept driving until he reached a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where Williams was discovered unresponsive in the back seat. [75], On August 11, 1952, Williams was dismissed from the Grand Ole Opry for habitual drunkenness and missing shows. His physical appearance diminished, too. During World War II Williams commuted between Mobile, where he worked in a shipyard, and Montgomery, where he pursued a musical career. All Rights Reserved. Both women had been using the description professionally. Hank Williams' last ride: Driver recalls lonesome end - ajc Encyclopedia of Alabama - Biography of Hank Williams Sr. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum - Biography of Hank Williams, Alabama Music Hall of Fame - Biography of Hank Williams, Hank Williams - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (1987). Finally, after not hearing from the singer for two solid hours, the driver pulled the car over in Oak Hill, West Virginia, at 5:30 in the morning. He told Hill that his mother was interested in talking to him about his problems and her need to collect Elonzo's disability pension. He made his radio debut at age 13; formed his first band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys, at age 14; and early on began wearing the cowboy hats and western clothing that later were so associated with him. A year later he was entering talent shows and had his own band, Hank. A year later he was entering talent shows and had his own band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys. Carr drove through the night as Williams declined his offer to stop for food. Corrections? Among other fake titles he claimed to be a Doctor of Science. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Copy. [129][130], Material recorded by Williams, originally intended for radio broadcasts to be played when he was on tour or for its distribution to radio stations nationwide, resurfaced throughout time. Hank Williams is considered one of the most popular American country music singer/songwriters with songs like "Cold, Cold Heart," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." Around this time Williams released more hit songs, such as "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me", "Why Should We Try Anymore", "Nobody's Lonesome for Me", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", and "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living". His father worked as a logger before entering the Veterans Administration hospital when young Hank was just six. By the end of 1952, Williams had started to have heart problems. How old was hank Williams jr when hank Williams sr died - Answers If a song can't be written in 20 minutes, it ain't worth writing. Williams dropped out of school in October 1939 so that he and the Drifting Cowboys could work full-time. Hank Williams, the 29-year-old King of Country Music, was to have flown to Charleston, West Virginia for a New Year's Eve concert but an ice storm near Nashville kept him away. While her son was not on the stage, his song I Saw The Light opened the show. How did country music star Hank Williams really die? - New York Post She was a headstrong, recently divorced mother of a 2-year-old, six months his senior and also a musician. Williams' version became a huge country hit; the song stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for four consecutive months,[56] and gained Williams a place in the Grand Ole Opry. [112] He was ranked second in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash who recorded the song "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town". Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. The important thing is that he made millions of people happy, an editorial in The Advertiser stated on Jan. 3, 1953. Defending his position, he claimed that Williams possibly committed suicide. [35] On March 12, 1953, Billie Jean Jones appeared before the Oklahoma committee. Jones declared "I have never accepted the report that my husband died of a heart attack. The 27-year-old was driving the car, which was. It is unimportant whether you liked his songs, whether in your opinion he created ugliness or beauty. Hank Williams decided he wanted to go ahead with the performances he had scheduled on . After Hawkshaw Hawkins and other performers started singing "I Saw the Light" as a tribute to Williams, the crowd, now realizing that he was indeed dead, followed them. One year later, he released a cover of "Lovesick Blues", a huge country hit, which propelled him to stardom on the Grand Ole Opry. Because a corpse was involved, Stamey called in radio officer Howard Janney. [26] During the funeral four women fainted and a fifth was carried out of the auditorium in hysterics after falling at the foot of the casket. A rookie Tennessee highway patrol officer, Swann Kitts, told reporters he had stopped the Cadillac and fined Carr $25 for speeding, The United Press reported on Jan. 2, 1952. Hiram "Hank" Williams died on January 1, 1953, at the age of 29. Williams began his music career in Montgomery in 1937, when producers at local radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. Hank Williams - Biography - IMDb [47] As a result of the new variety of his repertoire, Williams published his first songbook, Original Songs of Hank Williams. Their son, Randall Hank Williams (now known as Hank Williams Jr.), was born on May 26, 1949. Hank Williams Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth All rights reserved (About Us). Lyons recalled how Hank rose from being a shoeshine boy to star of the stage. He died in 1939, but his musical legacy would live on in Williams. Williams and his wife approached Fred Rose, the president of the company, during one of his habitual ping-pong games at WSM radio studios. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The identity of her famous father remained a mystery to her until her early twenties. In 1946 Williams landed a songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose Publications and began composing material for singer Molly ODay. The janitor was accused of theft, but the charges were later dropped when a judge determined that her version of events was true. [125][126] In July 2020, his granddaughter Katherine (Hank Jr.'s daughter) died in a car crash at the age of 27. [83], On January 2, Williams' body was transported to Montgomery, Alabama, where it was placed in a silver casket that was displayed at his mother's boarding house for two days. A 3-CD selection of the tracks, restored by Joe Palmaccio, was released by Time-Life in October 2008 titled The Unreleased Recordings. "I saw that the overcoat and blanket that had been covering Hank had slipped off," Carr told yet another reporter. It was something he apparently saw coming. A. If he came to this conclusion (of suicide), he still had enough prestige left as a star to make a first-class production of it whereas, six months from now, unless he pulled himself back up into some high-class bookings, he might have been playing for nickels and dimes on skid row. On the weekend after the tour ended, Williams was photographed backstage at the Grand Ole Opry signing a motion picture deal with MGM. Ultimately, the completion of the album included recordings by Alan Jackson, Norah Jones, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Patty Loveless, Levon Helm, Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, and Merle Haggard. Hank Williams Arrested: The Story Behind the Famous Photo [94] He also wrote that Williams had been severely beaten and kicked in the groin recently (during a fight in a Montgomery bar a few days earlier), and local magistrate Virgil F. Lyons ordered an inquest into Williams' death concerning a welt that was visible on his head. [101] Released in July, "I Won't Be Home No More" went to No. Now free to travel without Williams' schooling taking precedence, the band could tour as far away as western Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. The suit demanded that both of the publishing companies continue to pay her half of the royalties from Hank Williams' records. Shortly thereafter he became a regular on the newly created Louisiana Hayride radio program based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The performances greatly increased Williams' name recognition, but he still lacked a number one hit. Discover Hank Williams' Death Car in Montgomery, Alabama: Cadillac where country's first big star was found dead. The day after Williams died, The Montgomery Advertiser recalled Williams as a former peanut vendor who learned to play guitar at age 6. The album, named The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams, was released on October 4, 2011. "[44], He worked for the rest of the war for a shipbuilding company in Mobile, Alabama, as well as singing in bars for soldiers. He sang "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey Good Lookin''", "Glory Bound Train" and "I Saw the Light" with other cast members, and a duet, "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" with Anita Carter. [109] When Downbeat magazine took a poll the year after Williams' death, he was voted the most popular country and Western performer of all timeahead of such giants as Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, and Ernest Tubb.[110]. Carr immediately realized that he was dead and informed the filling station's owner, Glenn Burdette, who called the chief of the local police, O.H. Died On: 1953: How old was Hank Williams Sr.? The Montgomery Auditorium, located at the intersection of Perry and Monroe Street, "Long forgotten Montgomery auditorium to see new life", "Convict Says Williams Depressed Singer Said Possible Suicide", "Name is Forged to Prescriptions, Expert Says", I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Hank_Williams&oldid=1137643276, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart, January 4, 1953 at Oakwood Annex Cemetery in, January 1, 1953 in Oak Hill, West Virginia, This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 18:47. [58] He brought together Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass), Jerry Rivers (fiddle) and Don Helms (steel guitar) to form the most famous version of the Drifting Cowboys, earning an estimated $1,000 per show (equivalent to $11,400 in 2021) That year Audrey Williams gave birth to Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams Jr.). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He was severely injured after falling from a truck, breaking his collarbone and suffering a severe blow to the head. Killorn stated that the fact that Carr told him it was Hank Williams caused him to remember the incident. Due to Williams' tour schedules, some of the shows were previously recorded to be played in his absence. A doctor injected Williams with B12 and morphine and porters carried the legendary singer-songwriter to the car. He also requested a doctor for Williams, as Williams was feeling the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he had drunk on the way from Montgomery to Knoxville. That night, the singers body was taken back to Montgomery. [35], Williams' successful radio show fueled his entry into a music career. The Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a posthumous special citation in 2010 for his "craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life". He died in the back seat of his Cadillac while being driven to a gig on New Year's Day 1953. [52] Rose signed Williams to a six-song contract, and leveraged this deal to sign Williams with Sterling Records. Williams was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most significant country music artists of all time. [97] His funeral was said to have been far larger than any ever held for any other citizen of Alabama, and the largest event ever held in Montgomery. Williamss music itself was not especially groundbreaking, though he was a deft synthesizer of blues, honky-tonk country, western swing, and other genres. However, much of what led to his non-sobriety is exactly what made his music as good as it was. [59] On May 21, he had been admitted to North Louisiana Sanitarium for the treatment of his alcoholism, leaving on May 24. He returned to perform in KWKH and WBAM shows and in the Louisiana Hayride, for which he toured again. Many artists have covered his songs and he has influenced Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, George Strait, Charley Pride, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, among others. [13][14], As a child, Williams was nicknamed "Harm" by his family and "Herky" or "Skeets" by his friends. It was at this time that Williams decided to change his name informally from Hiram to Hank. Also, the Drifting Cowboys were at the time backing Ray Price, while Williams was backed by local bands. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. A doctor was called to examine him. He was driving Hank Williams, 29, who died that night. [71] During his recovery, he lived with his mother in Montgomery, and later moved to Nashville with Ray Price. Later he would dull his physical pain with morphine, but alcohol remained his painkiller of choice when he sought to relieve the heartache of his tumultuous relationship with Audrey Sheppard, whom he married in 1942 (they divorced in 1952). This being the days of Jim Crow, the 200 Black mourners were in a segregated balcony. [16] Lillie Williams began booking show dates, negotiating prices and driving them to some of their shows. He was only 29. Here are more vintage images and stories of Alabamas past. Williams' personal life took a major turn in 1943 when he met Audrey Mae Sheppard, who was the mother of a young daughter and had only recently left a messy marriage. Meanwhile, Lewis Fitzgerald's son Ricky billed himself as Hank Williams IV following his father's claim of being Williams' son. [34] Hank jr. was three years old when his father died in 1959. [57] On June 11, 1949, Williams made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry, where he became the first performer to receive six encores. In April 1948, he scored a second Billboard success with "Honky Tonkin.'". [6] The family's first child, Ernest Huble Williams, was born on July 5, 1921; he died two days later. Carr was exhausted and, according to the police reports, nervous enough to invite suspicion that foul play had been involved in Williams' death. His funeral was held the next day, Sunday Jan. 4, 1953, at Montgomerys City Auditorium. His salary was enough for him to start his own band, which he dubbed the Drifting Cowboys. [77] The next day, two public ceremonies were held at the New Orleans Civic Auditorium, where 14,000 seats were sold for each. As the titles of some of Williams' songs suggest, heartbreak and turmoil were never that far from his life. [63] The songs depicted Luke the Drifter traveling around from place to place, narrating stories of different characters and philosophizing about life. [138], After Williams' death, Audrey Williams filed a suit in Nashville against MGM Records and Acuff-Rose. He purchased the DSC title for $25 from the Chicago School of Applied Science; in the diploma, he requested that the DSc be spelled out as "Doctor of Science and Psychology". In February 2005, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that Williams' heirsson, Hank Williams Jr, and daughter, Jett Williamshave the sole rights to sell his recordings made for a Nashville radio station in 1951. In Knoxville, Tennessee, the two stopped at the Andrew Johnson Hotel. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Why was Hank Williams an alcoholic? He had a message. His name was misspelled as "Hiriam" on his birth certificate, which was prepared and signed when he was 10 years old. Audrey Williams asked Rose if her husband could sing a song for him on that moment,[51] Rose agreed, and he liked Williams' musical style. Audrey Williams - Wikipedia Williams had to cancel the concert due to an ice storm; he hired college student Charles Carr to drive him to his next appearance, a concert on New Year's Day 1953, at the Canton Memorial Auditorium in Canton, Ohio. While living in Georgiana, Williams met Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne, a street performer. On December 11, 1946, in his first recording session, he recorded "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul", "Calling You", "Never Again (Will I Knock on Your Door)", and "When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels", which was misprinted as "When God Comes and Fathers His Jewels".