Lefty Frizzell Album Guide and Biography Video

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William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter.  Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as influencing prominent country singers like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Willie Nelson. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982 as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In his prime, Frizzell was the first artist to achieve four songs in the top ten on the Country Music Billboard charts at one time. Frizzell went on to have more success, releasing many songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Hot Country Songs charts as an artist and songwriter. After dealing with alcoholism, he died of a stroke at age 47.

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00:00Lefty Frizzell was a country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter who was a popular musical

00:10artist in the 1950s. Frizzell was born in Corsicana, Texas in 1928. Frizzell acquired

00:22the nickname Lefty as a child following a schoolyard fight. Frizzell's music would prove

00:30to be a major influence on future country stars such as Merle Haggard. In 1950, Frizzell scored

00:39a major hit with the song, If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time. Frizzell was a prolific writer

00:48and he scored numerous hits during the 50s with the songs Always Late With Your Kisses

00:55and the original version of the classic Long Black Veil. Frizzell continued recording hits during

01:04the 1960s and scored his biggest hit ever with Saginaw, Michigan in 1964. Frizzell had always

01:15been a big drinker but his alcoholism was steadily worsening and Frizzell died in 1975 from a stroke

01:24at the age of 47. Frizzell recorded the debut album Songs of Jimmy Rogers in 1951. The album was

01:37ostensibly a tribute to Rogers but it also heralded the arrival of a major artist in Frizzell. Other fine

01:47albums recorded by Frizzell during his career were Saginaw, Michigan from 1964, The Sad Side of Love

01:56also from 1964 and the legendary Lefty Frizzell in 1973. Among the compilations available for this

02:08artist are the following. Remembering the greatest hits of Lefty Frizzell from 1975 and the best of Lefty Frizzell

02:19Lefty Frizzell from 1991.

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