Before it was over, some 20,000 people had filled the auditorium and the street outside for what was described as the largest funeral in Montgomerys history. He also wrote a number of religious songs under the pseudonym Luke the Drifter. Father and son rarely saw each other over the next decade, with Williams' mother, who ran rooming houses, moving the family to Greenville and later Montgomery, Alabama. [67], Williams' career reached a peak in the late summer of 1951 with his Hadacol tour of the U.S. with Bob Hope and other actors. In 1947, he released "Move It on Over", which became a hit, and also joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. The pain and anguish that led him to drink could be heard in his songs. A line of thousands filled two-and-a-half city blocks as the funeral procession carried Hank to Oakwood Cemetery. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Getty Images. When several of his band members were drafted during World War II, he had trouble with their replacements, and WSFA terminated his contract because of his alcoholism. After the failure of his audition, Williams and Audrey Sheppard attempted to interest the recently formed music publishing firm Acuff-Rose Music. [32] The Cadillac in which Williams was riding just before he died is now preserved at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. [31], The president of MGM told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks prior to his death, but over 300 afterwards. A year later he was entering talent shows and had his own band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys. As a result, he was not considered a reliable performer. Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams' health. It could be argued, in fact, that his early death only enhanced his legend. Hank jr. was three years old when his father died in 1959 His father actually died January 1, 1953, and of course Jr was 3 years old. A picture from the past came slowly stealing As I brushed your arm and walked so close to you Then suddenly I got that old time feeling I can't help it if I'm still in love with you. By the time he'd moved with his mother to Montgomery in 1937, Williams' music career was already in motion. The world he seemed to identify most with was the musical sounds that poured out of the radio and emanated from church choirs. The break had to come, he added. [135][136] The release won a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. A. He was driving Hank Williams, 29, who died that night. His salary was enough for him to start his own band, which he dubbed the Drifting Cowboys. Hiram "Hank" Williams died on January 1, 1953, at the age of 29. [105] Williams had 11 number one country hits in his career ("Lovesick Blues", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive", "Kaw-Liga", "Your Cheatin' Heart", and "Take These Chains from My Heart"), as well as many other top 10 hits. Having interviewed Carr, the best that Peter Cooper of The Tennessean could offer was that "somewhere between Mount Hope and Oak Hill", Carr noticed Williams' blanket had fallen off. [98][99] Williams' remains are interred at the Oakwood Annex in Montgomery. The song was number one on the country charts for six weeks. On the evening of December 30, 1952, the restless, rail-thin 29-year-old tossed and turned in bed at his home in Montgomery, Ala. He died of a heart attack in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor in the backseat of a car, probably in West Virginia, while being driven from Knoxville, Tennessee, to a concert in Canton, Ohio. Williams told a story in later concerts that attributed his name change to a cat's yowling. The Garden Spot Programs, 1950, a series of publicity segments for plant nursery Naughton Farms originally aired in 1950. [90], At around midnight on January 1, 1953, when the two crossed the Tennessee state line and arrived in Bristol, Virginia, Carr stopped at a small all-night restaurant and asked Williams if he wanted to eat. [112] He was ranked second in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash who recorded the song "The Night Hank Williams Came To Town". The president of MGM Records told Billboard magazine that the company got only about five requests for pictures of Williams during the weeks before his death, but over 300 afterwards. [93] Dr. Ivan Malinin performed the autopsy at the Tyree Funeral House. Due to Williams' tour schedules, some of the shows were previously recorded to be played in his absence. Under Williams' guidance, Sheppard started playing bass and began performing in his band. The newlyweds spent Christmas 1952 with Williamss mother in Montgomery. As a girl, Jones had lived down the street from Williams when he was with the Louisiana Hayride, and now Williams began to visit her frequently in Shreveport, causing him to miss many Grand Ole Opry appearances. Hank Williams had something that humanity universally needs -- a song with a heart-felt message.. Since the revelation of her famous father, she initiated legal claims to his estate and battled her half-brother, who refused to acknowledge her for a long time. "When I pulled it back up, I noticed that his hand was stiff and cold." [15] That evening, when the announcer at Canton announced Williams's death to the gathered crowd, they started laughing, thinking that it was just another excuse. His name was misspelled as "Hiriam" on his birth certificate, which was prepared and signed when he was 10 years old. This addiction eventually led to his divorce from Audrey Williams and his dismissal from the Grand Ole Opry. Williams had married his second wife, Billie Jean Jones in October 1952, as 14,000 people looked on in Louisiana where Williams hosted radio shows after being fired from the Grand Ole Opry in August of that year. Williams' mother had claimed that he was dead. He was unable to read or notate music to any significant degree. He denied any responsibility in both deaths. (An audio recording of the funeral begins at the 7:30 mark of the video below. Carr and Williams checked out of the hotel, but the porters had to carry Williams to the car as he was coughing and hiccuping. Montgomery, Alabama Hank Williams was country music's first megastar. [3] In October 1952, he married Billie Jean Jones. [33], As part of an investigation of illicit drug traffic conducted by the Oklahoma legislature, representative Robert Cunningham seized Marshall's files. "[25] An estimated 15,000 to 25,000 people passed by the silver coffin, and the auditorium was filled with 2,750 mourners. Representative Cunningham presented the committee a telegram from Marshall's seized files, directed to the estate of Hank Williams for $736.39, and stated that the committee was evaluating the revocation of Marshall's parole. Marshall had been previously convicted for forgery, and had been paroled and released from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1951. The funeral took place on January 4 at the Montgomery Auditorium, where an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 attended while the auditorium was filled with 2,750 mourners. One famous person of Williams, Jr.'s . Another researcher decided it could have happened at any of the gas stations near Mount Hope. In 2011, Williams' 1949 MGM number one hit, "Lovesick Blues", was inducted into the Recording Academy Grammy Hall of Fame. His father actually died January 1, 1953, and of course Jr was 3 years old. Hanks first and second wives watched from the front pew. [84], A man named Lewis Fitzgerald (born 1943) claimed to be Williams' illegitimate son; he was the son of Marie McNeil, Williams' cousin. [79], On December 15, 1944, Williams married Audrey Sheppard. Chief Winfred Patterson who arrested Hank said to the Alabama Journal in 1971 that Hank was "more or less having DT's (delirium tremens). The janitor was accused of theft, but the charges were later dropped when a judge determined that her version of events was true. Red Foley, Roy Acuff, and Ernest Tubb, among others, sang Williamss gospel-influenced I Saw the Light at his funeral, which was attended by thousands. Hank Williams Sr. was 29 Years, 3 Months, 15 Days old. [28] His musical style contained influences from Payne along with several other country influences, among them Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican, and Roy Acuff. Carr stopped at a small all-night restaurant and asked Williams if he wanted to eat. In addition, her relationship with Williams' mom proved complicated. Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery. [78] His final concert was held in Austin, Texas, at the Skyline Club on December 19. Instead, Williams died 67 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1953. The day after Williams died, The Montgomery Advertiser recalled Williams as a former peanut vendor who learned to play guitar at age 6. All Rights Reserved. Williams wrote the lyrics and used the tune of Riley Puckett's "Dissatisfied". For a time his relationship with Fred Rose deteriorated, but the two were able to mend fences, paving the way for Williams to become a regular on the "Louisiana Hayride," a regular Saturday night performance hosted by a radio station in Shreveport. [71] During his recovery, he lived with his mother in Montgomery, and later moved to Nashville with Ray Price. [111] In 1987, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the category "Early Influence". Astrological Sign: Virgo, Death Year: 1953, Death date: January 1, 1953, Death State: West Virginia, Death City: Oak Hill, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Hank Williams Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/hank-williams, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: September 18, 2019, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. Jeff Wallenfeldt, manager of Geography and History, has worked as an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1992. Around this time Williams released more hit songs, such as "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me", "Why Should We Try Anymore", "Nobody's Lonesome for Me", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", and "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living". Alternate titles: Hiram King Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare. On the evening of Dec. 30, 1952, the restless, rail-thin 29-year-old tossed and turned in bed at his home in Montgomery, Ala. Here are more vintage images and stories of Alabamas past. You wrote only what you felt boil up inside you. Country music legends June Carter and Bill Monroe were among those who filed past his open casket as Hanks band, The Drifting Cowboys, backed up those singing tributes to the fallen star. Under the name of Dr. C. W. Lemon he prescribed Williams with amphetamines, Seconal, chloral hydrate, and morphine, which made his heart problems worse. [62] Although the real identity of Luke the Drifter was supposed to be anonymous, Williams often performed part of the material of the recordings on stage. Defending his position, he claimed that Williams possibly committed suicide. Lillie was unwilling to let him reclaim his position as the head of the household. For Hank to have lived even a normal life span, he would have had to avoid chemical dependence. [16] Lillie Williams began booking show dates, negotiating prices and driving them to some of their shows. [38] The same day, the District Attorney's office declared that after a new review of the autopsy report of Faye Marshall, toxicological and microscopic tests confirmed that her death on March 3 was not related to the medication prescribed by her husband. [71] On December 13, 1951, he had a spinal fusion at the Vanderbilt University Hospital, being released on December 24. When new wife Billie Jean asked what was the matter, she claimed his. During World War II Williams commuted between Mobile, where he worked in a shipyard, and Montgomery, where he pursued a musical career. Later that year he received his first recording contract, with Sterling Records; however, it was on the start-up label MGM that he had his first hit, Move It on Over in 1947. He also requested a doctor for Williams, as Williams was feeling the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he had drunk on the way from Montgomery to Knoxville. Killorn stated that the fact that Carr told him it was Hank Williams caused him to remember the incident. It was at this time that Williams decided to change his name informally from Hiram to Hank. Carr told Cooper this happened at the side of the road six miles from Oak Hill, but investigating officer Howard Janney placed it in the Skyline Drive-In restaurant's parking lot, noting that Carr sought help from a Skyline employee. [85], Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia, on December 31, 1952. His official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but there are many who say otherwise. Beside Hanks coffin were two large wreaths shaped like guitars, another set of flowers was shaped like a Bible, two lamps were shining purple lights, and in his hands there was a small Bible. Is Hank Williams Sr single? "Tom [Hiddleston, the actor portraying Williams] puts across that impending sense of doom. Hank Williams Jr. was performing his father, Hank Sr.'s, songs on stage at age 8. In February 2005, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that Williams' heirsson, Hank Williams Jr, and daughter, Jett Williamshave the sole rights to sell his recordings made for a Nashville radio station in 1951. That night, the singers body was taken back to Montgomery. A doctor injected Williams with two shots of vitamin B12 that contained morphine. [45] Sheppard later told Williams that she wanted to move to Montgomery with him and start a band together and help him regain his radio show. He was scheduled to perform a few gigs on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to see in. Williams, who was recently separated from WSM "for failure to make appearances," was a resident of Montgomery, Ala. As a youth he sold peanuts and shined shoes, meanwhile strumming on a. About 3,000 friends of the family shuffled through his mothers living room on Montgomerys North McDonough Street where Williams body was lain in state that Saturday night. [15] He was born with spina bifida occulta, a birth defect of the spinal column, which gave him lifelong pain; this became a factor in his later alcohol and drug abuse.
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