Faron Young had one of the longest-running and most popular careers in country music history. Emerging in the early '50s, Young was one of the most popular honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams' death, partially because he was able to smooth out some of the grittiest elements of Hank's music. Young balanced honky tonk with pop vocal phrasing and this combination of grit and polish resulted in a streak of popularity.

Faron, the youngest of six children, was born on February 25, 1932, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He grew up on a dairy farm his family operated outside the city, and he got his first guitar at an early age. By the time he was out of high school, he had joined a country band that was performing at local clubs.

He graduated from Fair Park High School in 1951, and then attended Centenary College of Louisiana. But he left college to join the [Louisiana Hayride]{1} as a regular performer. While on the [Hayride,] he met Webb Pierce{2} and in a short time, the pair were touring throughout the south, and singing as a duo in various nightclubs and honky tonks.

In late 1951, Young recorded, "Have I Waited Too Long" and "Tattle Tale Tears," for the independent label, Gotham Records. In February 1952, after hearing his singles, Capitol Records, decided to buy Young's contract away from Gotham. He then recorded for Capitol for the next ten years. His first Capitol single appeared in the spring of '52 and that same year, he was invited to perform regularly on the [Grand Ole Opry.]{3}

Young moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and recorded his first chart hit, "Goin’ Steady," in October 1952. But his career was sidetracked when he was drafted into the U.S. Army the following month. The song hit the [Billboard] country charts while Young was in basic training. It peaked at #2, and the U.S. Army Band took Young, its first country music singer, to replace Eddie Fisher on tours just as "If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain't Livin')" was hitting the charts. He was discharged in November 1954.

From 1954 to 1962, Young recorded many honky tonk classics for Capitol, including the first hit version of Don Gibson’s "Sweet Dreams." His most famous hit "Hello Walls," written by a young Willie Nelson, was a 1961 crossover hit for Young. Much of Young's success was that he continued to seek out new songwriters, such as Don Gibson, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson, thereby cultivating a new generation of country music fans.

During the mid-1950s, Young starred in four low-budget movies: [Hidden Guns] (1956), [Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer] (1956), [Raiders of Old California] (1957) and [Country Music Holiday] (1958). Upon his first film appearance, Faron earned the nickname, "the Young Sheriff," which eventually metamorphasized into "the Singing Sheriff." He appeared as himself in cameo roles and performances in later country music movies and was a frequent guest on television shows throughout his career, including ABC-TV's, [Ozark Jubilee.]{4}

Young continued to record for Capitol through 1962, when he switched labels and signed with Mercury. In general, Young's Mercury recordings were more pop-oriented than his Capitol work, possibly because "Hello Walls," his last #1 country hit for Capitol, reached #12 on the pop charts. Throughout the early and mid-'60s, Young's music became more polished and produced, yet his audience didn't decline dramatically; he may not have been hitting every top of the charts with the same frequency as he was during the '50s, but he was still a consistent hitmaker.

Faron left the Grand Ole Opry in 1965, deciding that it was more profitable for him to tour as a solo artist instead of being restricted to the Opry. Following his departure, Young began to explore a number of different business ventures, including a Nashville-based racetrack, real estate along Nashville's "Music Row," and co-founding, with Preston Temple, the trade magazine, [The Music City News.]

Released in 1971, the waltz-time ballad, "It's Four in the Morning" written by Jerry Chesnut, was one of Young’s finest records and his last #1 hit, also becoming his only major success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at #3 on their pop charts.

By the mid-1970s his records were becoming overshadowed by his behavior. Making headlines in 1972 when he was charged with assault for spanking a girl in the audience at a concert in Clarksburg, West Virginia, who he claimed spat on him, and for other later incidents.

During this time, Young continued to appear on television shows and he made the occasional appearance on the [Grand Ole Opry.] During the late '70s, his hits gradually began to fade away. In 1979, he left Mercury for MCA, but none of his singles for the new label reached the Top 40. and the association lasted only two years. Nashville independent label, Step One, signed him in 1988, where he recorded into the early 1990s (including a duet album with Ray Price), then he withdrew from public view.

During the '90s, Young was stricken with a debilitating emphysema. And even though young country acts, like BR5-49, were putting his music before new audiences in the mid-1990s, Young apparently felt the industry had turned its back on him. That, and despondency over his deteriorating health, were cited as possible reasons why Young shot himself with a revolver on December 9, 1996. He died in Nashville the following day and was cremated.

• Legacy and influence:
• A live performance video clip of Young's "It's Four In The Morning" was the first music video to air on CMT when it was launched on March 6, 1983.

* In 1985, British rock group, Prefab Sprout's album, [Steve McQueen,] included the song "Faron Young" with the refrain, "You give me Faron Young four in the morning/Forgive me Faron Young four in the morning..."

* In 2000, Young was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

* The cat owned by [Peanuts] comic strip character Frieda, was named Faron after Young, whom Charles Schulz admired very much, but made few appearances in the strip.

*Young's band, the Country Deputies, was one of country music's top bands and they toured for many years.

* Young's singles reliably charted for more than 30 years. ________________________________________________________________________________________ {1}The Louisiana Hayride was a radio (later television) broadcast on station KWKH-AM from the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped launch the careers of the some of the greatest names in American music.

{2}Webb Pierce was one of the most popular American honky tonk vocalists of the 1950s, charting more #1 hits than any other country artist during the decade. For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant rhinestone studded suits and silver dollar-lined convertible car, became the most recognizable face of country music of the era and its excesses. His biggest hit, "There Stands The Glass," is considered an iconic country music song. Pierce was a one-time member of the [Grand Ole Opry] and was posthumously inducted into the [Country Music Hall of Fame.]

{3}[The Grand Ole Opry] is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee that has presented the biggest stars of the genre for nearly 85 years. Also, the show is broadcast weekly, by radio station WSM-AM. It is also the longest-running, live radio program in history since its beginnings in 1925. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of legends and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, folk, comedy, and gospel. Considered an American icon, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and Internet listeners. Today, as part of the American landscape, it is "the show that made country music famous" and has been called the "Home of American music" and "Country’s most famous stage."

{4}[Ozark Jubilee] was the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and the vehicle for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed [Country Music Jubilee] on July 6, 1957, and was finally renamed [Jubilee USA] on August 2, 1958. Originating "from the heart of the Ozarks," the Saturday night variety series helped popularize country music in America's cities and suburbs, drawing more than nine million viewers. The ABC Radio version was heard by millions more starting in August 1954.

[Biography written by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, edited by bri4daz.]