"W"
Alabama Music Achievers

WILEY WALKER - Andalusia, Alabama
-Member of Wiley & Gene, one of Country music's most successful duets of the late 1930's & 40's
-Co-wrote "Live and Let Live" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again"

JERRY L. WALLACE - Muscle Shoals, Alabama
-A multi talented artist Wallace plays, writes, produces and engineers.
-Produced The Forester Sisters with partner Terry Skinner
-His songs have been recorded by artists such as Tanya Tucker, Melissa Manchester, Highway 101, Billy "Crash" Craddock, John Schneider, and Shenandoah.
-Wallace's "Touch Me When We're Dancing" by Alabama and "Even The Nights Are Better" by Air Supply have received BMI Millionaire Awards for over one million radio performances.
-Contemporary Christian artist Michele Pillar has had chart success with "Reign On Me" and "Walk Across Heaven" which were written by Wallace.

GREELY WALTON - Mobile, Alabama
-Walton played saxophone, clarinet and flute
- He worked first with Elmer Snowden in 1926, then with Benny Carter (1929) and for an extended period with Luis Russell (1930-37). During this time Russell's ensemble was occasionally led by Red Allen, and served as Louis Armstrong's backing ensemble for a period.
-After leaving Russell, Walton worked with Vernon Andrade (1938), Horace Henderson (1941), Cootie Williams as a baritone saxophonist (1942-43), and Cab Calloway (1943-45).
-From 1945-47 he acted as musical director for doo wop group The Ink Spots, and played with Noble Sissle and Sy Oliver towards the end of the decade.
-He did work in radio and television in the 1950s before retiring from music in that decade.
- He died October 9, 1993

TRAVIS WAMMACK - Muscle Shoals, Alabama
-First to develop and use the fuzz tone for an electric guitar
-He began his professional music career when he wrote and recorded his first record at the age of eleven.
- A child prodigy, Wammack's first record was issued when he was twelve years old, and at 17 he hit the American charts with "Scratchy", an instrumental million seller which peaked at #80 in 1964.
-Wammack worked as a session musician at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals in the 1960s.
-1975 released a solo album which generated two hits in the "Easy Evil" (#72) and "(Shu-Doo-Pa-Poo-Poop) Love Being Your Fool" (Billboard Hot 100 #38).
-He was Little Richard's band leader from 1984 until 1995.
-He is a member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Wammack received the Professional Musician Award from the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. In 2005, he was inducted into The Southern Legends Entertainment And Performing Arts Hall Of Fame.

FRANK WARNER - Selma, Alabama
-The early-'60s revival of American folk music was sparked by the efforts of such folksingers and song collectors as Frank Warner. Assisted by his wife, Anne, Warner traveled extensively through Canada, New England, and the American south in search of material.
- Among the many tunes he discovered were such classics as "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," "Days of Forty-Nine," and "Whiskey in the Jar (Gilgarrah Mountain)."
-Warner's greatest contribution to the American folk boom remains the discovery of the outlaw song "Tom Dooley," His interpretation of the song, which he included on his 1952 album, American Folk Songs and Ballads, was used as a model for the million-selling hit recorded by the Kingston Trio six years later.
-Warner recorded several memorable albums in the '50s and early '60s. In addition to American Folk Songs and Ballads, he released Songs and Ballads of America's Wars and Songs of the Civil War. A sampling of tunes the Warners recorded during song collecting expeditions was released as Music From the Anne & Frank Warner Collection

CARL "BAMA" WARWICK - Brookside, Alabama
-Warwick was one of several light-skinned Africian-American musicians who “passed” for white in order to secure more lucrative work.
-He played professionally around New York City in the '30s, before working in Philadelphia -Worked with singer Tiny Bradshaw and saxophonist Teddy Hill.
-Warwick led an Army band during World War II.
- Following the war he played with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, and worked freelance.
-He moved to California and led his own band in the '50s; he also worked with Lucky Millinder, Brew Moore, and Dizzy Gillespie during the decade.
-Warwick was hired as music director for the New York City Correctional Institute in 1966.
- Warwick performed as a member of Benny Carter's band at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival in New York City.

DINAH WASHINGTON - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Born Ruth Lee Jones she was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s".
-Began singing in church choirs then moved into popular music as a member of Lionel Hampton's band
-Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music.
-Her first record for Mercury, a version of Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'", was a hit, starting a long string of success.
-Between 1948 and 1955, she had 27 R&B top ten hits
-Both "Am I Asking Too Much" (1948) and "Baby Get Lost" (1949) reached Number 1 on the R&B chart, and her version of "I Wanna Be Loved" (1950) crossed over to reach Number 22 on the US pop chart.
-She followed it up with "Unforgettable", and then two highly successful duets in 1960 with Brook Benton, "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (No. 5 Pop, No. 1 R&B) and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)" (No. 7 Pop, No. 1 R&B). Her last big hit was "September in the Rain" in 1961 (No. 23 Pop, No. 5 R&B)
-She gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". -She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

FRED WESLEY - Mobile, Alabama
- American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s.
- In the 1970s he served as band leader and musical director of Brown's band
- Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s' recording of "Doing It to Death", sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1973.
- Spent several years playing with George Clinton's various Parliament-Funkadelic projects
- Wesley became a force in jazz in 1978 when he joined the Count Basie Orchestra.
- Wesley's 35-year career includes playing with and arranging for a wide variety of other artist such as Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Curtis Mayfield, Dr. John, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Randy Crawford, Vanessa Williams, The SOS Band, Cameo, Van Morrison, So called and rappers De La Soul, to name a few.

WET WILLIE - Mobile, Alabama
-They are best known for their hit "Keep On Smilin'," reaching #10 on the Billboard Chart in August 1974, but had a number of charted songs in the 1970s.
-Wet Willie is a versatile, high-energy Southern rock band that, from 1971 until 1978, produced an array of albums of good-time music, rollicking high-energy blues-rock, and white Southern soul.
-They released several charting singles and achieved one Top Ten hit and a lot of admirers.
-Hits were "Keep On Smilin," "Street Corner Serenade," and "Weekend"

JERRY WEXLER - New York, New York
-Was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s.
- During his time as an editor, reporter, and writer for Billboard Magazine, Wexler coined the term "rhythm and blues."
- He became a partner in Atlantic Records in 1953.
-In 1967 he was named Record Executive of the Year
-In the 1960s, he notably recorded Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, and oversaw production of Dusty Springfield's highly acclaimed Dusty in Memphis and Lulu's New Routes albums.
-He was an enormous proponent of the then-developing Muscle Shoals Sound and founded the fortunes of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
- He was integral in signing and-or producing many of the biggest acts of the last 50 years, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dire Straits, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan.
-Wexler was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
-Jerry Wexler was one of the most highly regarded A&R men in popular music history..

JOHN T. "FESS" WHATLEY - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
-One of the most influential and well-known educators in American jazz music during the 1920s and 1930s.
-An accomplished trumpeter, arranger, and bandleader, Whatley made Birmingham a notable tour stop for groups looking to hire well-trained and professional musicians.
-Whatley formed Birmingham's first African American dance orchestra, The Jazz Demons, in 1922. Consisting mostly of current and former students, Whatley's ensemble traveled throughout the country.
- In his 45 year teaching career, over 300 of his students became professional musicians.
-Whatley also became known as "the maker of musicians" and "the dean of Birmingham jazz."
-Many of his pupils at Industrial High School went on to form their own ensembles and perform with some of the leading big bands of the 1920s and 1930s, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith. Among his famous students were Herman Blount (Sun Ra), Sammy Lowe, Cleveland Eaton, James L. Lowe, Herman Grimes, Murray Harper, C. Julian Parrish, Walter H. Blythe, Wilson Driver, J. B. Sims, and Edward A. Brown.
-In 1978, he was inducted as a charter member of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and in 1991 was the recipient of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame's Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement.
- Whatley died January 12, 1972

AUDREY WILLIAMS - Banks, Alabama
-Audrey played the upright bass.
- Her desire for fame led to a series of duets with her husband
-Audrey was featured on the following recordings: "Lost on the River", "I Heard My Mother Praying for Me", "Dear Brother", "Jesus Remembered Me", "The Pale Horse and His Rider", "Jesus Died for Me", "Help Me Understand", Something Got a Hold of Me", "I Want to Live and Love", and "Where the Soul of Man Never Dies".
-It has been suggested that Audrey wrote the "Mansion on the Hill" because Hank had writer's block after meeting with Fred Rose.
-Williams played an important role in her husband's rise to fame in an era when women were seldom allowed to take leading roles in management, even in the management of their own careers.
-She played a central role in promoting Hank Williams' legacy and launching the career of Hank Williams, Jr.
-Following Hank Williams' death, Audrey Williams worked within the country music community as a music publisher and booking agent.
-Through the 1950s and '60s, Audrey had her own record label, publishing and film production companies, talent search, and touring all-star show.
-She pursued an unsuccessful solo career on Decca and MGM during the 1950s, and later formed the vocal group called the Cold Cold Hearts

CHARLES "COOTIE" WILLIAMS - Mobile, Alabama
-Williams began his professional career with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young, when he was 14 years old
-In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson.
- He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940.
-Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet and for his use of the plunger mute.
-In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke")
-In 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players
-He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. -Williams died in New York on September 15, 1985, at age 74.

HANK WILLIAMS - Georgiana, Alabama
-An American singer-songwriter and musician.
-He was born with spina bifida occulta, a disorder of the spinal column, which gave him lifelong pain - a factor in his later abuse of alcohol and drugs.
-Regarded as one of the most significant and influential singers and songwriters of the 20th Century,
-Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one.
-The number one hits were "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"
-1960, Williams' star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 and into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
- When Downbeat magazine took a poll the year after Hank's death, he was voted the most popular country and Western performer of all time - ahead of such giants as Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, and Ernest Tubb.
- In 1977, a national organization of CB truck drivers voted "Your Cheatin' Heart" as their favorite record of all time.
- In 1987, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the category Early Influence.
-He was ranked second in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash.
-In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked him number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
- The website Acclaimedmusic, which collates recommendations of albums and recording artists, has a year-by-year recommendation for top artists. Hank Williams is ranked first for the decade 1940-1949 for his song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
-Many artists of the 1950s and 1960s, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis,Merle Haggard, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Ricky Nelson, Jack Scott, and Conway Twitty recorded Williams songs early in their careers.
- In 2011 Williams's 1949 MGM number one hit, "Lovesick Blues", was inducted into the Recording Academy Grammy Hall Of Fame.
- The same year Hank Williams: The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings….Plus! was honored with a Grammy nomination for Best Historical Album.
-In 1999, Williams was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame.
- On April 12, 2010, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Williams a posthumous special citation that paid tribute to his "craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life".

HANK WILLIAMS JR. - Shreveport, Louisiana
-Randall Hank Williams, better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is a country singer-songwriter and musician. -His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country.
-He is the son of legendary country music singer Hank Williams
-As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams's repertoire of skills include guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, harmonica, fiddle, and drums.
- Williams moved to Alabama, in an attempt to refocus both his creative energy and his troubled personal life
-Between 1979 and 1992, Williams released 21 albums, 18 studio & 3 compilation, that were all, at least, certified gold by the RIAA.
-Between 1979 and 1990, Williams enjoyed a string of 30 Top Ten singles on the Billboard Country charts, including eight No. 1 singles, for a total of 44 Top Ten singles, including a total of 10 No. 1 singles, during his career.
-In 1982, he set a record having nine albums simultaneously on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, none of which was greatest hits or live
- In 1987 and 1988, Williams was named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. In 1987, 1988, and 1989, he won the same award from the Academy of Country Music.
-He is well known for his hit "A Country Boy Can Survive" and as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight".
-In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams's opening themes for Monday Night Football earned him four Emmy Awards

JOE WILLIAMS - Mobile, Alabama
- Well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.
- He toured the Midwest in 1939 and 1940 with the Les Hite band, which accompanied the likes of Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. A year later, he went on a more extensive tour with the band of saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.
- In 1942, Lionel Hampton hired him to fill in for his regular vocalist
-He got his big break in 1954, when he was hired as the male vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra. He remained with Basie until 1961, garnering some of the best exposure a blues and jazz singer could have. His first LP, Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings, appeared in 1955, containing definitive versions of Memphis Slim's "Every Day I Have the Blues" (already his signature song, and first recorded by him in 1952 on Checker Records) and "Alright, Okay, You Win." "Every Day" hit number two on the R&B charts
- In 1955, Williams won Down Beat magazine's New Star Award. That same year, he won Down Beat's international critics' poll for Best New Male Singer, as well as their readers' poll for Best Male Band Singer
- Williams sang the lead in 1975 in Cannonball Adderley's musical play "Big Man" (based on the John Henry legend) in Carnegie Hall.
- He shared the stage with jazz greats such as Sarah Vaughan, Dianne Reeves, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Carmen McRae, Herbie Hancock, Nat Adderley, and Dizzy Gillespie
- He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983, next to Basie's
-In 1985, Williams received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocalist for the album "I Just Want to Sing."
-In 1992, he won his second Grammy Award, for the release Ballad and Blues Master - "I Just Want to Sing."

LINDA WILLIAMS - Anniston, Alabama
-Member of Robin and Linda Williams & Their Fine Group, which formed in 1973
- First appeared on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion radio show in 1976, gaining them national exposure as the show's audience expanded.
-In the summer of 1993 they toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter and later sang on Carpenter's Grammy Award-winning album Stones in the Road.
-Their 1996 album, Sugar for Sugar, spent 11 weeks in the Top 20 of Gavin's Americana Chart.
-Co-writer on songs for Emmylou Harris and Tom T. Hall

NELSON "CADILLAC" WILLIAMS - Birmingham, Alabama
-Williams was an American jazz trumpeter.
-He played with Cow Cow Davenport while still a teenager.
-In the 1930s he played in the territory bands Trianon Crackerjacks and Brown Skin Models, and acted as musical director for the Dixie Rhythm Girls.
-Around 1940 he left Alabama for Philadelphia, where he played with Tiny Bradshaw before joining the U.S. Army during World War II.
-After the war Billy Eckstine hired Williams, and following this he worked with John Kirby and Billy Kyle.
-In 1949 he began the first of several stints with Duke Ellington, who bestowed upon him the nickname "Cadillac".
- In 1951 he left Ellington's employ and moved to Paris, where he led his own bands

RANSOM WILSON - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Wilson is an American flutist and conductor.
-He has long been recognized internationally as one of the greatest flutists of his generation.
-He graduated from the Juilliard School
-He has served as the Professor of Flute at Yale University, as well as an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (New York City).
-As a soloist engagements have included concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia; the Cincinnati Pops at Blossom; the Detroit Symphony; the Puerto Rico Symphony; England's Hallé Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among others.
-Wilson is equally esteemed as an outstanding conductor of orchestral and operatic repertoire. He has conducted two productions at the New York City Opera, and is currently an Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. Most recently, he conducted a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra.
-His highly successful recording career, has included three Grammy Award nominations,and more than 15 solo recordings.
-Wilson has been the recipient of several illustrious honors. In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama. In 1988 the New York Times Foundation awarded him the first Alabama Prize, which is awarded to natives or residents of that state who have distinguished themselves in the performing or visual arts. The following year he shared with pianist Christopher O'Riley a National Public Radio award for best performance by a small ensemble on a national broadcast. The Austrian government honored him with their prestigious Award of Merit in Gold, in recognition of his efforts on behalf of Mozart's music in America.
-Ransom has been an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Artistic Director of LE TRAIN BLEU, and Professor of Flute at the Yale School of Music.

THEODORE SHAW "TEDDY" WILSON - Tuskegee, Alabama
-Wilson was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist".
-Wilson's sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald.
-He was one of the first black musicians to appear prominently with white musicians.
-In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Wilson also led his own groups and recording sessions from the late 1920s to the 1980s.
-He studied piano and violin at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.
-After working in Speed Webb's band, with Louis Armstrong, and also understudying Earl Hines in Hines's Grand Terrace Cafe Orchestra, Wilson joined Benny Carter's Chocolate Dandies in 1933. In 1935, he joined the Benny Goodman Trio
-He recorded fifty hit records with various singers such as Lena Horne, Helen Ward and Billie Holiday, including many of Holiday's greatest successes.
-He took part in many highly regarded sessions with a wide range of important swing musicians such as Lester Young,Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Red Norvo, Buck Clayton, and Ben Webster.
-In the 1950s, Wilson taught at the Juilliard School. -Wilson can be seen appearing as himself in the 1955 motion picture The Benny Goodman Story. He also worked as music director for the Dick Cavett Show.
-Wilson died July 31, 1986; he was 73.

TERRY WOODFORD - Sheffield, Alabama
-With partner Clayton Ivey, built Wishbone Studio and publishing company
-Signed exclusive production agreement with Motown Records -During his career as a hit record producer, music
publisher, recording engineer, songwriter, Woodford supplied music and songs for top acts such as The Commodores, Jimmy Buffet, The Temptations, Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Wayne Newton, Barbara Mandrell, Mac McAnally, John Kay of Steppenwolf, The Supremes and many others.
-Terry served on the board of governors of the Nashville Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences twice.
-He co-founded and taught courses for the first four year degree program in the country to teach the ins and outs of the music business at the University of North Alabama.
-One of his discoveries, Mac McAnally, has been inducted into the Song writers Hall of Fame and won CMA's musician of the year five times
- Terry also served as Chairman of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame board for five years.
-He had an idea to record an actual human heart and use it as the rhythm of traditional nursery songs. Much to his surprise, when tested in a hospital newborn nursery, nurses reported 94% of crying babies were calmed to sleep by the music in less than two minutes.
-In 1987 he left the music business to devote full time to developing and spreading the use of his heartbeat lullabies.

MARION WORTH - Birmingham, Alabama
-She was one of the first Country performers to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City, as well as one of the first Country performers to perform in Las Vegas.
-During the 1950s, Worth was one of several female Country singers, which included Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells, to break down the tradition of using women only as background singers in Country Music.
- It was Happy Wilson (later her husband) who was so impressed with Marion that he began recording her.
-At the end of 1959, Marion's recording of "Are You Willing, Willie" went Top 15. The following year Marion had a Top 5 hit with her recording of her self-penned song, "That's My Kind of Love," which would be her most successful single.
-Marion scored a Top 10 single with "I Think I Know." In 1961, she reached the Top 25 with "There'll Always Be Sadness."
-Her 1963 recording of "Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry)" reached the Country Top 15 and crossed over to the Pop Top 50. She followed up with her Top 20 version of "Crazy Arms."
-In 1963 she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
-1964 opened with the Top 40 hit "You Took Him Off My Hands (Now Please Take Him Off My Mind)" and followed with the Top 25 duet with George Morgan, Slipping Around. She finished the year with "The French Song" which also went Top 25.
-Marion died on December 19, 1999

TAMMY WYNETTE - Red Bay, Alabama
-Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally by her stage name Tammy Wynette was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers. She was a country music icon.
-Wynette was called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song, v"Stand by Your Man", was one of the best-selling hit singles by a woman in the history of country music
- During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wynette charted 23 No. 1 songs.
- In 1965 Wynette sang on the Country Boy Eddie Show on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, and this led to performances with Porter Wagoner.
-Her first single, "Apartment No. 9" was released in December 1966, and just missed the Top 40 on the Country charts, peaking at No. 44.
- It was followed by "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad," which became a big hit, peaking at number three. The song launched a string of Top Ten
- "My Elusive Dreams", a duet with David Houston, became her first number one in the summer of 1967, followed by "I Don't Wanna Play House" later that year.
-"I Don't Wanna Play House" won Wynette a Grammy award in 1967 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, one of two wins for Wynette in that category.
-During 1968 and 1969, Wynette had five number one hits — "Take Me to Your World," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", "Stand by Your Man" (all 1968), "Singing My Song," and "The Ways to Love a Man" (both 1969).
-In 1969, Wynette won the Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Stand by Your Man", which is now, according to critics, considered a "classic" or Country music "standard".
- In 1970 she earned a Gold record (awarded for albums selling in excess of 500,000 copies) for Tammy's Greatest Hits . The album would later be awarded Platinum record status (awarded for albums selling in excess of 1,000,000 copies) in June 1989.
-During the early 1970s, number one singles included "He Loves Me All the Way" "Run Woman, Run" and "The Wonders You Perform" (all from 1970), "Good Lovin' (Makes it Right)", "Bedtime Story" (both 1971) "My Man (Understands)", "'Til I Get it Right" (1972), and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1973).
-Concurrent to her solo success, a number of her duets with Jones reached the top ten on the U.S. country singles charts during this time, including "The Ceremony" (1972), "We're Gonna Hold On" (1973), and "Golden Ring" (1976).
- In 1968, Wynette became the second female vocalist to win the Country Music Association Awards' "Female Vocalist of the Year" award, later winning an additional two other times (1969, 1970). For nearly two decades, Wynette held the record for most consecutive wins.
-In 1976 Wynette recorded, "'Til I Can Make It on My Own". Often said by music critics to be about her break-up from Jones and moving on with her life, the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. country singles charts, and No. 84 on the pop singles charts
- In 1976, Wynette had another No. 1 as a solo artist, "You and Me", which became her final No. 1 as a solo artist. Her last No. 1 came as a duet with George Jones in early 1977 titled, "Near You".
-She had a total of 21 number one hits on the U.S. country singles charts (17 solo, three with Jones, and one with Houston).
Wynette died on April 6, 1998, at age 55.

Alphabetical Achievers Listing