Biography for
Lefty Frizzell More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

31 March 1928, Corsicana, Texas, USA

Date of Death

19 July 1975, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (massive stroke)

Birth Name

William Orville Frizzell

Spouse

Alice Harper

(12 March 1945 - 19 July 1975) (his death)

Trade Mark

Often wore flashy rhinestone suits and elaborately detailed boots and accessories.

Gibson SJ-200 with modified Bigsby neck with his name on a custom pickguard.

Ability to "curl" and enunciate every word, often adding syllables to the words of in his songs.

Streched vowels in words and circle up and down from the melody.

Trivia

Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, 1982.

His younger brother, David Frizzell, had a string of major country hits in the early 1980s (including several duet singles with Shelly West.

"Always Late" was the No. 1 country song of 1951.

Had some of the biggest country hits of the early 1950s -- including the Billboard magazine No. 1 hits "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" (1950); and "Always Late With Your Kisses" and "I Love You a Thousand Ways" (both 1951). He returned to No. 1 in 1964 with "Saginaw, Michigan." His other memorable hits were "The Long, Black Veil" (1959), "She's Gone, Gone, Gone" (1965) and "I Never Go Around Mirrors" (1974).

Country singer.

Brother of David Frizzell.

Grandfather of August Frizzell.

First singer ever to get four (4) hits on the Billboard Top 10 at one time, in October of 1951 "Always Late" was number one, "Mom And Dad's Waltz was number two, "I Want To Be With You Always" was number seven, and "Travlin' Blues" was number eight. A feat that was not be topped until a band known as "The Beatles" came along in 1964.

Very first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry occurred on December 20,1950.

As been credited by Merle Haggard, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Keith Whitley, George Jones, and Daryl Singletary as their main influence.

The first country singer to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in California.

Was the first ever to wear a rhinestone studded suit on stage and was influenced to do so by none other than the famous radio tailor Nudie.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Personal Quotes

"Some people can't talk and express themselves; with me, expression comes in the form of a song, and it makes me very happy. So I'd lose my blues, hang on to what little I had, and it became a style"

"You know, you can copyright the words of a song, and the music to the song, but you can't copyright your voice."

"I'm not really a lazy guy, but I got tired of holding high notes for a long time. Instead of straining, I just let it roll down and it felt good to me." - commenting about his singing style.

"When I sing, to me every word had a feeling about it. I had to linger, had to hold it. I didn't want to let go of it. I want to hold one word through a whole line of melody, to linger with it all the way down. I didn't want to let go of that no more than I wanted to let go of the woman I loved. I didn't want to lose it."

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