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We go to the grave of our loved one saying, "a man has passed away." But angels throng about him, saying "A Man Is Born." Indeed, the angels are now shouting such for Baker Knight, known as the "songwriter's songwriter" by industry greats and fans alike. His music has been recorded and played by a list of luminaries that reads like the Who's Who of both early and contemporary music. His songs have been recorded by over 40 recording artists beginning in 1958 when Rick Nelson recorded his classic hit, "Lonesome Town." Rick went on to record 21 more songs penned by the mind and soul of this "songwriter's songwriter." Most recently, Paul McCartney recorded "Lonesome Town" and included it on his "Run Devil Run" album, which was released in 1999. Paul went even further, singing "Lonesome Town" at a ceremony in London, England, as a tribute to his late wife, Linda. He also performed it on the television show, "Live from the Cavern," a British club where the legendary Beatles got their sea legs. One Baker Knight fan said it best. "Heartbreak Hotel" is located in "Lonesome Town." Born Thomas Baker Knight, Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama, July 4, 1933, this lauded songwriter lived in several cities throughout the South, spending the majority of his childhood in Birmingham where he attended high school. Upon graduation he served three years in the Air Force (where he learned to play the guitar) and on his return to his roots, spent a year at the University of Alabama. Unable to afford the expense of college he attended an art school in Birmingham and became a technical illustrator and draftsman. When Elvis appeared on the music scene in 1956, Baker and some musician friends were so moved by his music and the music of several other artists, including BB King and Bo Diddley, they formed a rock & roll band, "Baker Knight and the Knightmares." Within a year the band developed a huge following in the Birmingham area and one day, as fortune would have it, the proverbial "Hollywood agent" came to town. He liked the band and signed them up. They recorded several songs but one of them stood out, "Bring My Cadillac Back," written by Knight. It started climbing the charts, selling 40,000 records in just two weeks. But the song was removed from the radio play lists because the then "powers that be" felt it was a free commercial for Cadillac. Nothing seemed to come together after that. The band members drifted away and Baker headed West to Los Angeles to catch his yet defined star. Armed with his guitar and an $80 nest egg, Baker pounded the pavement but to no avail. It was then that he wrote perhaps his most defining song, "Lonesome Town." It was his comment on being lost in a crowd, lovelorn, and all alone in Hollywood. Things would get much worse. Baker Knight was down to his last 36 cents. "Thirty-six pennies in a glass," he recalls. "Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide." But fate would soon intervene. "I was introduced to Ricky Nelson (who was a full-fledged teenage idol at the time) by a mutual friend," Baker tells. "I played a few songs for him, and much to my surprise, his manager called two days later and told me Ricky wanted to record two of the songs. They offered me a $2,000 advance, which was unexpected but most welcome at the time, considering I was flat broke." Ricky recorded "Lonesome Town" and "I Got A Feeling" shortly thereafter and in the late fall of 1958 both songs were at the top of the Billboard Charts. "Lonesome Town" was at #6 and "I Got A Feeling" came in at #11. Ricky went on to record a total of 22 songs written by Baker. Thereafter, Baker continued to write songs, many of which were recorded by the industry's elite, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Mickey Gilley, whose rendition of Baker's "Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time" won the Academy of Country Music's "Song of the Year" award. He has the distinction of having a Two Million Performance song and three One Million Performance songs to his credit. Baker, who lived in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, is survived by his daughter, Tuesday Lynn Knight, an actress and jewelry designer who lives in Studio City, CA., and a son, Thomas Baker Knight III, a doctor of veterinary medicine and an award winning taxidermist who resides in Cantonment, Florida (He also plays guitar and bass). |
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