Marion Worth
Encyclopedia
Marion Worth was an American Country Music Singer
. She was a popular performer on the Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee
. She also had several hits in the early 1960s.
. Her father, a railroad worker, taught her how to play piano
. At the age of 10, she won a local talent show
contest for five weeks straight. Initially, she was not interested in pursuing a career in the music business, wanting to become a nurse instead. Worth attended the Paul Hayne School, where she began her medical training. Worth accepted a job as a bookkeeper for a record company around the time she and her sister won another local talent contest. These events encouraged Worth to pursue a career in the music business.
She made her radio
debut on Dallas, Texas
station KLIF. She then returned to Birmingham, Alabama
and worked at radio stations WVOK
and WAPI, and also appeared on WAPI-TV
. She met established singer/songwriter Happy Wilson who became quite impressed with Marion's singing and began recording her.
. The song peaked in the top 15 of the country music charts. In 1960, her song "That's My Kind of Love" went to the top 5, becoming her biggest hit. Jack Stapp
signed the young singer to the Grand Ole Opry
s Friday Night Frollic. As a result of her independent record label hits, she was signed to Columbia Records
where she was produced by Don Law and Frank Jones. At Columbia, she recorded a single called "I Think I Know". The song was a Top 10 hit for Worth. In 1961, she released another single called "There'll Always Be Sadness". The single was not as successful as her other singles, but it did make the Top 25 that year. For almost two years, Worth was absent from the Country charts.
In 1963, Marion returned to the Country charts. That year, she recorded the song "Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry)" which reached Country's Top 15 and crossed over to the Pop Music
charts, reaching the Top 50. It was also played on Easy Listening stations, and receives some airplay as a Christmas song due to its theme of toys and giving. She followed up well with a cover version of "Crazy Arms
," a hit for Ray Price
. Her version reached the Country Top 20. That same year, Worth joined the Grand Ole Opry
. The next year, 1964 started with a Top 40 hit called "You Took Him Off My Hands (Now Please Take Him Off My Mind)". Her biggest hit of 1964 was a duet recording with George Morgan
called "Slipping Around". The song was a Top 20 hit. She had another recording that year called "The French Song", which was a Top 25 hit.
In 1966, Worth was back on the charts with a top 40 recording called "I Will Blow Out the Light". Marion soon parted ways with Columbia Records
and signed with Decca Records
where she recorded two songs that reached the top 40, "A Woman Needs Love" in 1967 and "Mama Sez" in 1968.
. She was a popular and in-demand performer for many years in the United States
and Canada
. Worth did a lot of firsts for Country Music during her heyday. 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
.
On Sunday, December 19, 1999, Worth died in Nashville, Tennessee
at the Tennessee Christian Medical Center from complications of emphysema
. She was 69 years old.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She was a popular performer on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
in Nashville, Tennessee
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...
. She also had several hits in the early 1960s.
Early Life & Rise to Fame
Marion Worth was born in 1930 during the height of the depressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Her father, a railroad worker, taught her how to play piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. At the age of 10, she won a local talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
contest for five weeks straight. Initially, she was not interested in pursuing a career in the music business, wanting to become a nurse instead. Worth attended the Paul Hayne School, where she began her medical training. Worth accepted a job as a bookkeeper for a record company around the time she and her sister won another local talent contest. These events encouraged Worth to pursue a career in the music business.
She made her radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
debut on Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
station KLIF. She then returned to Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and worked at radio stations WVOK
WVOK (AM)
WVOK is a radio station broadcasting the True Oldies Channel satellite music format. Licensed to Oxford, Alabama, USA, the station serves the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Area. The station is currently owned by Woodard Broadcasting Company, Inc....
and WAPI, and also appeared on WAPI-TV
WVTM-TV
WVTM-TV, channel 13, is the NBC-affiliated television station in the Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden, Alabama television market. The station is owned by Media General...
. She met established singer/songwriter Happy Wilson who became quite impressed with Marion's singing and began recording her.
The Height of Her Career
In 1959, Worth had her first hit, called "Are You Willing, Willie," on Cherokee RecordsCherokee Records
Cherokee Records was a record label located at 1717 Oakwood Avenue in Huntsville, Alabama in the late 1950s. Three singles were released on the label.-Buddy Hughey:*The More I Learn To Care/Wonderland Of Love...
. The song peaked in the top 15 of the country music charts. In 1960, her song "That's My Kind of Love" went to the top 5, becoming her biggest hit. Jack Stapp
Jack Stapp
Jack Stapp was an influential country music manager.- External links :*...
signed the young singer to the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
s Friday Night Frollic. As a result of her independent record label hits, she was signed to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
where she was produced by Don Law and Frank Jones. At Columbia, she recorded a single called "I Think I Know". The song was a Top 10 hit for Worth. In 1961, she released another single called "There'll Always Be Sadness". The single was not as successful as her other singles, but it did make the Top 25 that year. For almost two years, Worth was absent from the Country charts.
In 1963, Marion returned to the Country charts. That year, she recorded the song "Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry)" which reached Country's Top 15 and crossed over to the Pop Music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
charts, reaching the Top 50. It was also played on Easy Listening stations, and receives some airplay as a Christmas song due to its theme of toys and giving. She followed up well with a cover version of "Crazy Arms
Crazy Arms
"Crazy Arms" is an American country song recorded by Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a hit that year and a honky-tonk standard. It was Price's first number one hit. The song was written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals...
," a hit for Ray Price
Ray Price (musician)
Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...
. Her version reached the Country Top 20. That same year, Worth joined the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. The next year, 1964 started with a Top 40 hit called "You Took Him Off My Hands (Now Please Take Him Off My Mind)". Her biggest hit of 1964 was a duet recording with George Morgan
George Morgan (singer)
George Thomas Morgan was a mid-20th century American country music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a former member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:...
called "Slipping Around". The song was a Top 20 hit. She had another recording that year called "The French Song", which was a Top 25 hit.
In 1966, Worth was back on the charts with a top 40 recording called "I Will Blow Out the Light". Marion soon parted ways with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and signed with Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
where she recorded two songs that reached the top 40, "A Woman Needs Love" in 1967 and "Mama Sez" in 1968.
Later Career & Death
Worth's success on the Country Music charts, went down greatly after 1968. However, Worth didn't stop performing. Her hobby was to study the history of the world, which she focused a lot of time on after her chart success faded away. However, she continued to be an active member of the Grand Ole OpryGrand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. She was a popular and in-demand performer for many years in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Worth did a lot of firsts for Country Music during her heyday. She was one of the first Country performers to perform at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, as well as one of the first Country performers to perform in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. During the 1950s, Worth was one of several female Country singers, which included Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
and Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason , known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star...
, to break down the tradition of using women only as background singers in Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
.
On Sunday, December 19, 1999, Worth died in Nashville, Tennessee
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...
at the Tennessee Christian Medical Center from complications of emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
. She was 69 years old.
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Greatest Hits | — | Columbia |
| 1964 | Slippin' Around (with George Morgan George Morgan (singer) George Thomas Morgan was a mid-20th century American country music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a former member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:... ) |
12 | |
| 1965 | Sings Marty Robbins | — | |
| 1968 | A Woman Needs Love | 38 | Decca |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
|||
| 1959 | "Are You Willing, Willie" | 12 | — | singles only |
| 1960 | "That's My Kind of Love" | 5 | — | |
| "I Think I Know" | 7 | — | Greatest Hits | |
| 1961 | "There'll Always Be Sadness" | 21 | — | |
| 1963 | "Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry)" | 14 | 42 | |
| "Crazy Arms Crazy Arms "Crazy Arms" is an American country song recorded by Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a hit that year and a honky-tonk standard. It was Price's first number one hit. The song was written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals... " |
18 | — | singles only | |
| 1964 | "You Took Him Off My Hands (Now Please Take Him Off My Mind)" |
33 | — | |
| "Slippin' Around Slippin' Around "Slippin' Around" is a song written and recorded by Floyd Tillman in 1949. The most popular recording was a cover version by Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely which reached number one on the Retail Folk Best Sellers chart... " (with George Morgan George Morgan (singer) George Thomas Morgan was a mid-20th century American country music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a former member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:... ) |
23 | — | Slippin' Around | |
| "The French Song" | 25 | — | singles only | |
| 1965 | "I Will Not Blow Out the Light" | 32 | — | |
| 1967 | "A Woman Needs Love" | 64 | — | A Woman Needs Love |
| 1968 | "Mama Sez" | 45 | — | single only |