George Jones

The Legendary George Glenn Jones
George Jones has been known as the “greatest living country singer” for nearly twenty years. Known for his excessive drinking and relationships with women, Jones had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. 2009 marks Jones's 56th year recording country music and is his 40th year as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
George Jones- Way Back
When George Glenn Jones was born Sept. 12, 1931, in Saratoga, Texas. Raised by his father and mother, George grew up with a brother and five sisters. When George was seven, the Jones family bought a radio which introduced him to music that would soon become his life.
 
The gift of a guitar when Jones was only nine years old had him singing for money on the streets of his hometown, Beaumont. George became talented enough to earn a spot on local radio in the late 1940s, beginning with KTXJ in Jasper and then moving on to KRIC in Beaumont
 
While still a teenager, Jones married Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950, his first of four wives. They divorced about year later. Soon After, Jones joined the United States Marine Corps and served time in Korea. In 1954, he made his first record, "No Money in This Deal," for Starday Records. The same year, he married Shirley Ann Corley. The marriage lasted until 1968, the year before he married Tammy Wynette. His marriage to Wynette ended in 1975. He married Nancy Sepulveda, who also became his manager, in 1983.
 
With Starday, Jones had his first chart hit in 1955 with "Why Baby Why," a song he co-wrote. It reached No. 4 in Billboard. Jones' marriage to Wynette led him to her label, Epic Records, and a 20-year association with producer Billy Sherrill.
 
George Jones- The “No Show Jones”
 
Known for binge drinking throughout his career, Jones set of a famous record in 1979 when he missed more than 50 concerts and caught the nickname "No Show Jones."
 
He battled his addiction throughout the 1980s and appeared to have defeated his drinking problem in the 1990s. Then, in 1999, he was seriously injured when he wrecked his car near his Nashville home. Police called to the scene found evidence of a partly empty bottle of vodka. He was convicted of impaired driving, fined and sentenced to undergo treatment.
 
During the after-math of car accident, Jones released a powerful ballad called "Choices," which climbed to the middle of the singles chart. It received a CMA nomination for single of the year in 1999, but the awards show producers refused to let Jones to sing the entire song on the broadcast, citing time constraints.      
 
George Jones – I Lived To Tell It All
 
While his chart presence was diminishing in the '90s, Jones had been writing his autobiography with celebrity chronicler Tom Carter. "I really enjoyed working on it," he said. "I didn't think I would. I put it off for five, six, seven years, but even though I wouldn't do it, Tom kept gathering material hoping I would change my mind. I finally got tired of hearing things that I'd done blown out of proportion. I wanted to set the record straight." The book I Lived to Tell It All, published in 1996, quickly became one of Jones' greatest hits, reaching No. 6 on The New York Times bestseller list.    
George Jones’s #1 Hits
1.       "White Lightning"
2.       "Tender Years"
3.       "She Thinks I Still Care"
4.       "Walk Through This World With Me"
5.       "We're Gonna Hold On" (with Tammy Wynette)
6.       "The Grand Tour"
7.       "The Door"
8.       "Golden Ring" (with Tammy Wynette)
9.       "Near You" (with Tammy Wynette)
10.   "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
11.   "(I Was Country) When Country Wasn't Cool" (with Barbara Mandrell)
12.   "Still Doin' Time"
13.   "Yesterday's Wine" (with Merle Haggard)
14.   "I Always Get Lucky With You"  


Studio Albums That Made the Charts
1. Blue and Lonesome

2. George Jones Sings Like The Dickens

3. I  Get Lonely In A Hurry

4. The Race Is On

5. Mr. Country and Western Music

6. New Country Hits

7. I’m A People

8. Love Bug

9. We Found Heaven Right Here On Earth At “4033”

10. Walk Through This World with Me

11. If My Heart Had Windows

12. Sings the Songs of Dallas Frazier

13. The George Jones Story

14. My Country

15. The Grand Tour

16. Memories of Us

17. Alone Again

18. The Battle

19.The Battle

20. I Wanta Sing

21. Bartender’s Blues

22. I Am What I Am

23. Still The Same Ole’ Me

24. Jones Country

25. Shine On

26. You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart

27. Ladies Choice

28. Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes

29. Wine Colored Roses

30. Too Wild Too Long

31. One Woman Man

32. You Outta Be Here With Me

33. Friends In High Places

34. And Along Came Jones

35. Walls Can Fall

36.High Tech Redneck

37. I Lived To Tell It All

38. It Don’t Get Any Better Than This

39. Cold Hard Truth

40. The Rock: Stone Cold Country

41. The Gospel Collection

42. Hits I Missed…And One I Didn’t

43. Burn Your Playhouse Down—The Unreleased Duets  
 
Five Fun Facts:

• Jones and wife Nancy run a diner in Enterprise, Alabama which is decorated with memorabilia from Jones's long career in the country music business.
• He was often broke during the “ No Show Jones” period and later admitted that friends Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash came to his aid financially.
• He also endorses his own brand of sausages which are produced for him by Williams Sausage Company of Tennessee using Jones's own recipe.
• George Jones "University" which is a twice-yearly training program for those wishing to learn about a career in the music business.
• In his 1996 single "Honky Tonk Song", George Jones parodied his own arrest in the song's music video.

References:   www.cmt.com & www.wikipedia.com  ( George Jones Biography)