George Hamilton IV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| George Hamilton IV | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 19, 1937 |
| Genre(s) | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Label(s) | ABC, Colonial, RCA Victor |
George Hamilton IV (born July 19, 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, later switching to pop-country and folk music.
On June 18, 1956, while a 19-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton recorded “A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for Chapel Hill record label Colonial Records. The song, written by John D. Loudermilk, climbed to number 6 on the American pop charts. By 1960, "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" had attained gold record status for ABC-Paramount (who had acquired the song from Colonial). The B-side of the record, "If You Don't Know," revealed Hamilton's ambitions to be a country singer. In late 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, Tennessee to further his work as a country musician.[1] Shortly thereafter, on February 8, 1960, Hamilton officially became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Later that same year, he began recording for RCA Records, having been signed by Chet Atkins.
Hamilton's breakthrough hit was the 1961 song "Before This Day Ends." His biggest hit came two years later with "Abilene," another song penned by John D. Loudermilk. The song spent four weeks in the number 1 spot on Billboard magazine's country singles chart and reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts. The success of "Abilene" was followed with the song "Fort Worth, Dallas or Houston" (a top 5 hit in late 1964).
By the mid-1960s, Hamilton's music began showing a decidedly folk influence. This was especially evident with 1966's "Steel Rail Blues" and "Early Morning Rain" and 1967's "Urge For Going." Another 1967 hit was "Break My Mind." One more George Hamilton IV song of this genre was a moderate hit in 1969 - the Ray Griff-penned "Canadian Pacific." His last Top 5 single came in 1970, with "She's a Little Bit Country."
After his American chart success declined in the early 1970s, Hamilton began touring the world, across the Soviet Union, Australia, the Middle East and East Asia. These widely-acclaimed international performances earned Hamilton the nickname The International Ambassador of Country Music.[2] He also hosted several successful television shows in Britain and Canada during the 1970s and in the 1990s he played himself in the West End musical "Patsy" based on the life of Patsy Cline.
George Hamilton IV is still a regular at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and in country shows throughout America and Britain. He mainly concentrates on Gospel tours both at home and abroad. In 2007 he collaborated with a group of musicians from Northern Ireland called "Live Issue" to record a live album based on the life of Joseph Scriven, who wrote the hymn, "What A Friend We Have in Jesus."
Hamilton is not related to actor George Hamilton, who appeared in a number of movies, including The Evil Knievel Story.[3]
