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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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