Razzy Bailey
Encyclopedia
Razzy Bailey is an American
country music
artist.
. Bailey got his first experience of musical performance as a member of his high school's Future Farmers of America string band. After graduation, he married and had children immediately, and had little time to pursue his career, but he spent many years playing occasional gigs at honkytonks in Georgia
and Alabama and developing his songwriting.
at Atlantic Records
, who arranged for him to record "9,999,999 Tears" backed by a studio band featuring Billy Joe Royal
, Joe South
, and Freddy Weller
. The song failed to hit the charts at that time, but Bailey was encouraged, forming the pop
trio Daily Bread which releasing a pair of albums on small labels. Another group, The Aquarians, followed in 1972; in 1974, Bailey recorded the album I Hate Hate simply as "Razzy." It sold over half a million copies before being picked up by MGM Records
.
recorded "9,999,999 Tears", and it became a country and pop hit in 1976, and in 1977, Lee repeated this with another Bailey tune, "Peanut Butter," which also went into the charts. As his songwriting talents became known, Bailey signed with RCA Records
and in 1978 began releasing singles of his own songs. His first hit as a singer-songwriter, "What Time Do You Have To Be Back In Heaven?", was on the charts for over four months. Bailey charted a total of seven #1 singles on Billboard
's "Country" charts
and another eight Top 10 in the late 1970s- early 1980s. His sound combines R&B
influences with country; his version of Wilson Pickett
's "In the Midnight Hour
" was a country hit. His last country #1 hit was with "She Left Love All Over Me
" in 1982.
Bailey has had three double sided number 1's in succession on the Country charts, a feat never accomplished by any other artist.
"9,999,999 Tears" has been rerecorded in Japan
by one of the country's top artists. Bailey released the album Damned Good Time in 2009 on Sounds of America (SOA) records, an independent label.
He also operates Razzy's Hit House, his recording studio where he is helping other artist with their projects.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
artist.
Early life
Bailey was raised on a farm in La Fayette, AlabamaLa Fayette, Alabama
LaFayette LaFayette LaFayette (Pronounced: /la-ˈfeɪ-ɛt/ lah-FAY-et,...
. Bailey got his first experience of musical performance as a member of his high school's Future Farmers of America string band. After graduation, he married and had children immediately, and had little time to pursue his career, but he spent many years playing occasional gigs at honkytonks in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and Alabama and developing his songwriting.
Early releases
In 1966, Bailey took his material to Bill LoweryBill Lowery
Bill Lowery was an American music entrepreneur.-Early successes:Lowery was born in Leesville, Louisiana. He studied radio dramatics at Taft Junior College and went on to a number of radio-announcing jobs...
at Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, who arranged for him to record "9,999,999 Tears" backed by a studio band featuring Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal is an American singer.-Biography:Born in Valdosta and raised in Marietta in 1942, Royal became a local star at Savannah, Georgia's Bamboo Ranch in the 1950s and 1960s...
, Joe South
Joe South
Joe South is a multi-talented American singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Career:...
, and Freddy Weller
Freddy Weller
Freddy Weller is a United States country music singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. His recording career started in 1969, while he was playing guitar in the band Paul Revere & The Raiders....
. The song failed to hit the charts at that time, but Bailey was encouraged, forming the pop
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...
trio Daily Bread which releasing a pair of albums on small labels. Another group, The Aquarians, followed in 1972; in 1974, Bailey recorded the album I Hate Hate simply as "Razzy." It sold over half a million copies before being picked up by MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
.
Career at RCA
In the mid 1970s, Dickey LeeDickey Lee
Royden Dickey Lipscomb , known professionally as Dickey Lee , is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie ."-Career:Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa...
recorded "9,999,999 Tears", and it became a country and pop hit in 1976, and in 1977, Lee repeated this with another Bailey tune, "Peanut Butter," which also went into the charts. As his songwriting talents became known, Bailey signed with RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
and in 1978 began releasing singles of his own songs. His first hit as a singer-songwriter, "What Time Do You Have To Be Back In Heaven?", was on the charts for over four months. Bailey charted a total of seven #1 singles on Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
's "Country" charts
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...
and another eight Top 10 in the late 1970s- early 1980s. His sound combines R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
influences with country; his version of Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
's "In the Midnight Hour
In the Midnight Hour
"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968...
" was a country hit. His last country #1 hit was with "She Left Love All Over Me
She Left Love All Over Me
"She Left Love All Over Me" is a song made famous by country music singer Razzy Bailey.Issued in December 1981, the blues-tinged song about an emotional love affair just ended slowly but surely broke in popularity. When it reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart at the end...
" in 1982.
Bailey has had three double sided number 1's in succession on the Country charts, a feat never accomplished by any other artist.
"9,999,999 Tears" has been rerecorded in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by one of the country's top artists. Bailey released the album Damned Good Time in 2009 on Sounds of America (SOA) records, an independent label.
He also operates Razzy's Hit House, his recording studio where he is helping other artist with their projects.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|||
| 1974 | I Hate Hate | MGM | ||
| 1979 | If Love Had a Face | 33 | RCA | |
| 1980 | Razzy | 12 | ||
| 1981 | Makin' Friends | 8 | 183 | |
| 1982 | Feelin' Alright | 10 | 176 | |
| A Little More Razz | 59 | |||
| 1983 | Greatest Hits | 33 | ||
| 1984 | The Midnight Hour | 36 | ||
| 1985 | Cut from a Different Stone | 38 | MCA | |
| 1986 | Arrival | |||
| 2009 | Damned Good Time | SOA |
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... |
CAN Country | |||
| 1966 | "9,999,999 Tears" | — | — | Single only |
| 1974 | "I Hate Hate" (as Razzy)A | — | — | I Hate Hate |
| 1976 | "Keepin' Rosie Proud of Me" | 99 | — | Single only |
| 1978 | "What Time Do You Have to Be Back to Heaven" | 9 | 20 | If Love Had a Face |
| "Tonight She's Gonna Love Me (Like There Was No Tomorrow)" | 6 | 5 | ||
| 1979 | "If Love Had a Face" | 6 | 33 | |
| "I Ain't Got No Business Doin' Business Today" | 10 | 18 | ||
| "I Can't Get Enough of You" | 5 | — | Razzy | |
| 1980 | "Too Old to Play Cowboy" | 13 | — | |
| "Loving Up a Storm Loving Up a Storm "Loving Up a Storm" is a 1980 single by Razzy Bailey. "Loving Up a Storm" would be Razzy Bailey's seventh country hit and the first of his five number ones. "Loving up a Storm" went to to number one for one week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart .-Chart performance:... " |
1 | 10 | ||
| "I Keep Coming Back"/True Life Country Music" | 1 | 3 | ||
| 1981 | "Friends Friends (Razzy Bailey song) "Friends" is a 1981 single by Razzy Bailey. The song appears on his album Makin' Friends."Friends" was released as a double-sided single, with "Anywhere There's a Jukebox" on the b-side. Both sides of the single peaked at Number One on the Hot Country Songs charts dated for June 6, 1981.-Chart... "/Anywhere There's a Jukebox" |
1 | 9 | Makin' Friends |
| "Midnight Hauler Midnight Hauler "Midnight Hauler" is a 1981 single written by Wood Newton and Tim DuBois and recorded by Razzy Bailey. "Midnight Hauler" would be Razzy Bailey's fourth number one on the country chart... " |
1 | 1 | ||
| "Scratch My Back (And Whisper in My Ear)"A | 8 | — | ||
| "She Left Love All Over Me She Left Love All Over Me "She Left Love All Over Me" is a song made famous by country music singer Razzy Bailey.Issued in December 1981, the blues-tinged song about an emotional love affair just ended slowly but surely broke in popularity. When it reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart at the end... " |
1 | 2 | Feelin' Alright | |
| 1982 | "Everytime You Cross My Mind (You Break My Heart)" | 10 | 9 | |
| "Love's Gonna Fall Here Tonight" | 8 | 11 | A Little More Razz | |
| "Poor Boy" | 30 | — | ||
| 1983 | "After the Great Depression" | 19 | 23 | Greatest Hits |
| "This Is Just the First Day" | 62 | 48 | ||
| 1984 | "In the Midnight Hour In the Midnight Hour "In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968... " |
14 | 32 | The Midnight Hour |
| "Knock on Wood Knock on Wood (song) "Knock on Wood" is a hit 1966 song written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper and originally performed by Eddie Floyd. The Eddie Floyd version peaked at number twenty-eight on the Hot 100, and spent one week at number one on the soul singles.... " |
29 | — | Cut from a Different Stone | |
| "Touchy Situation" | 43 | — | ||
| 1985 | "Modern Day Marriages" | 51 | — | |
| "Fightin' Fire with Fire" | 78 | — | Arrival | |
| "Old Blue Yodeler" | 48 | — | ||
| 1986 | "Rockin' in the Parkin' Lot" | 63 | 42 | |
| 1987 | "If Love Ever Made a Fool" | 69 | — | Singles only |
| 1988 | "Unattended Fire" | 58 | — | |
| "Starting All Over Again" | 73 | — | ||
| 1989 | "But You Will" | 65 | — | |
| 1991 | "Fragile (Handle with Care)" | — | 36 |
- A"I Hate Hate" peaked at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The 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...
and #50 on the RPMRPM (magazine)RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
Top Singles chart in Canada. - BB-side to "Midnight Hauler."