Mack Vickery
Encyclopedia
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, and George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
.
Born in Town Creek, Alabama
Town Creek, Alabama
Town Creek is a town in Lawrence County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area...
, Vickery moved to Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
in 1957 and, considered leading man material, recorded for Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
, although nothing was initially released. Vickery continued to record for a number of minor labels and under various aliases, including “Vick Vickers” and “Atlanta James”.
Vickery first scored a songwriting hit when Faron Young
Faron Young
Faron Young was an American country music singer and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s and one of its most successful and colorful stars...
recorded Vickery’s song “She Went A Little Bit Further”, which reached number 14 on the Country Music charts in 1968..
Vickery followed this with songs for artists like Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...
, Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
, James Carr
James Carr (musician)
James Carr , was an American Rhythm & Blues and soul singer.Born to a Baptist preacher's family in Coahoma, Mississippi, Carr began singing in church and was performing in gospel groups and making tables on an assembly line in Memphis, Tennessee, when he began recording in the mid-'60s for Goldwax...
, John Anderson
John Anderson (musician)
John David Anderson is an American country music artist with a successful career that has lasted more than 30 years...
, and Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...
.
Vickery’s biggest hit as a writer was “The Fireman
The Fireman (song)
"The Fireman" is the title of a song recorded by country music artist George Strait. It was released in May 1985 as the third and final single from his 1984 album Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind. It reached #5 on the country music chart in the United States, and #10 in Canada.-Content:The...
”, recorded by George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, which reached number 5 in 1985, while his work with Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
brought him the most attention. Lewis recorded a number of Vickery’s songs, including “Rockin’ My Life Away”, “Meat Man” (described as “two minutes and forty seconds of sexual boasts, delivered furiously and convincingly”) and “Ivory Tears”. Vickery became known as Lewis’s speechwriter, and “In Vickery, a fan as well as a professional, Jerry Lee had found someone who could articulate his troubles better than he himself ever could.”
In 1970, Vickery recorded the album Live at the Alabama Women’s Prison
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women
The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is a prison for women of the Alabama Department of Corrections, located in Wetumpka, Alabama. All female inmates entering ADOC are sent to the receiving unit in Tutwiler. Tutwiler houses the state's female death row...
and reached the charts as a singer (under the name “Atlanta James”) for the first time in 1974 with “That Kind of Fool” (also recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis) and again in 1977 with "Ishabilly" and "Here's to the Horses".
Vickery was also friends with legendary Nashville disc jockey Ralph Emery
Ralph Emery
Walter Ralph Emery is a country music disc jockey and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. He gained national fame hosting the syndicated television music series, Pop! Goes the Country, from 1974 to 1980 and the nightly Nashville Network television program, Nashville Now, from 1983 to 1993...
and made numerous appearances on his early morning WSM television show. He also made several appearances on The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows...
[TNN] show Nashville Now.
In the 1970s Vickery toured with a comedian named "Elmer Fudpucker", aka Hollis Champion, and they also opened many shows for Jerry Lee Lewis.
In 1989 Vickery won the Music City News "Song Of The Year Award" for "I'll Leave This World Loving You
I'll Leave This World Loving You
"I'll Leave This World Loving You" is a country music song written by Wayne Kemp and Mack Vickery. Kemp released it in 1980 on the Mercury Records label.The song was later covered by Ricky Van Shelton in 1988...
”,a hit for Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton is a currently retired American country music artist. Active between 1986 and 2006, he has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...
and in 2002, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame honoured him with a bronze star in its Walkway of Stars
Mack had five older brothers: R.A., Quinton "Vic", Brice "Buster", Dave, Pat, and one sister Willena Clark. All his brothers are deceased. Vickery died in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
of a heart attack. He was 66.