Sue Thompson
Encyclopedia
Sue Thompson is an American
pop and country
music
singer. She is best known for the million selling hits "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)
" and "Norman", both pop hits for her in the 1960s.
on stage. When she and her family moved out west to San Jose
, she appeared on the Hometown Hayride TV program. During World War II
, she worked at a defense plant. She married when she was 17, and had a daughter at 20, but the marriage failed and she and her husband split up after three years. To keep supporting herself after her divorce, she returned to the nightclub
scene in California
. In San Jose
, she won a talent contest, thus catching the attention of bandleader and radio/TV host Dude Martin. Martin invited Thompson to sing with his band, and this eventually led to their marriage. They recorded some duets together, including "If You Want Some Lovin'", which helped her get her own solo contract from Mercury Records
in 1950.
, a comedian
and singer
. Penny and Thompson hosted a TV show in Los Angeles
together before eventually moving to Las Vegas
. Thompson recorded separately and also with her husband for Decca Records
. However, none of their songs ever gained any real success. In 1960, Thompson signed on with Hickory Records
. In 1961, "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" became a #5 hit on the pop charts, and she followed this up successfully with "Norman", which reached #3. Both of these hit singles were written by songwriter
John D. Loudermilk
. They both sold over one million copies, and were awarded with gold discs
.
In 1962, "Have a Good Time" was a Top 40 hit and in 1963, "Willie Can" was a minor hit. With her lighthearted and breathy voice, Thompson became a favorite among the teenage crowd of the time, even though she was in her late thirties. Two further hits, also written by Loudermilk, were "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)" and "Paper Tiger".
Joe Lucas's notes continued 'After school Sue worked at other jobs, but kept busy with radio, TV and personal appearances. She decided to devote her full time to entertainment and has played successfully at the Golden Nugget and Show Boat Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Riverside and Golden Nugget Hotels in Reno, Nevada and many, many others. Statistics wise, Sue stands five feet one inch, weighs 106 pounds and has red-blonde hair. Early in 1961, she signed an exclusive recording contract with Hickory Records, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. Her first release "Angel, Angel" did very well, but it was her second release "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" that spiraled into the top five best sellers in America and established her as a top rank recording artiste. If a clincher was needed, it was achieved when her third record came out called "Norman" which even surpassed "Sad Movies". Summing it all up, Sue Thompson is a great person with a wonderful future in view.'
singer Don Gibson
on some albums, and they had minor hits with "I Think They Call It Love", "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" and "Oh, How Love Changes". She recorded further solo singles for the country
charts, like "Big Mable Murphy", which made the Top 50 in 1975 and "Never Naughty Rosie", her last chart single in 1976. She also performed mainly at the Las Vegas
casinos and at clubs in Hollywood, like the Palomino Club. In the 1990s she settled in Las Vegas
, and continues to perform from time to time.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop and country
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...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
singer. She is best known for the million selling hits "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)
Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)
"Sad Movies " is a 1961 pop song by the American singer Sue Thompson. The song was written by John D. Loudermilk and appears on Thompson's 1962 Hickory Records album Meet Sue Thompson....
" and "Norman", both pop hits for her in the 1960s.
Early life
At the age of seven, she was already singing and playing the guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
on stage. When she and her family moved out west to San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, she appeared on the Hometown Hayride TV program. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she worked at a defense plant. She married when she was 17, and had a daughter at 20, but the marriage failed and she and her husband split up after three years. To keep supporting herself after her divorce, she returned to the nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
scene in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, she won a talent contest, thus catching the attention of bandleader and radio/TV host Dude Martin. Martin invited Thompson to sing with his band, and this eventually led to their marriage. They recorded some duets together, including "If You Want Some Lovin'", which helped her get her own solo contract from Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in 1950.
Recording career
Within only a year, she had divorced Martin to marry Hank PennyHank Penny
Herbert Clayton Penny was an accomplished banjo player and practitioner of western swing. He worked as a comedian best known for his backwoods character "That Plain Ol' Country Boy" on TV with Spade Cooley...
, a comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
. Penny and Thompson hosted a TV show in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
together before eventually moving to 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...
. Thompson recorded separately and also with her husband for 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....
. However, none of their songs ever gained any real success. In 1960, Thompson signed on with Hickory Records
Hickory Records
Hickory Records is a United States record label founded by Acuff-Rose Music in 1954 which operated the label up to 1979. Present owner Sony/ATV Music Publishing revived the label in 2007. Originally based in Nashville, functioning as an independent label throughout its history, it has had several...
. In 1961, "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" became a #5 hit on the pop charts, and she followed this up successfully with "Norman", which reached #3. Both of these hit singles were written by songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
John D. Loudermilk
John D. Loudermilk
John D. Loudermilk is an American singer and songwriter.-Biography:Born in Durham, North Carolina, Loudermilk grew up in a family who were members of the Salvation Army faith and was influenced by the church singing. His cousins Ira and Charlie Loudermilk were known professionally as the Louvin...
. They both sold over one million copies, and were awarded with gold discs
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
In 1962, "Have a Good Time" was a Top 40 hit and in 1963, "Willie Can" was a minor hit. With her lighthearted and breathy voice, Thompson became a favorite among the teenage crowd of the time, even though she was in her late thirties. Two further hits, also written by Loudermilk, were "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)" and "Paper Tiger".
Paper Tiger (1965 album)
The sleeve notes accompanying this album, released in 1965 by Hickory Records, written by Joe Lucas, give a little more detail of Thompson's early life and recording career as follows: 'Looking at lovely Sue Thompson today, it's hard to visualise her as a child—a freckle-faced tomboy, more at home on a horse than playing with dolls and doing the little things small girls are credited with doing. Yet this is the picture of Sue Thompson during her childhood in Nevada, Missouri. Sue, an only child, startled her family when she showed a flair for singing and show business. No one in her family was remotely connected with this type of business in any way. Sue was given a guitar for her seventh birthday, and with the aid of a cousin, soon began to learn a few chords. This was it! From that time on Sue and the guitar became one. She entertained every chance she had at school, church and social functions. Sue's mother became ill, so the family moved to Sheridan, California, where Sue entered high school and once again began to entertain at every opportunity. She went to San Jose, California for her last two years of school and it was here that her first real break came. She entered a contest at San Jose theater—won—and was awarded a two week engagement on the stage and a movie part.'Joe Lucas's notes continued 'After school Sue worked at other jobs, but kept busy with radio, TV and personal appearances. She decided to devote her full time to entertainment and has played successfully at the Golden Nugget and Show Boat Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Riverside and Golden Nugget Hotels in Reno, Nevada and many, many others. Statistics wise, Sue stands five feet one inch, weighs 106 pounds and has red-blonde hair. Early in 1961, she signed an exclusive recording contract with Hickory Records, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. Her first release "Angel, Angel" did very well, but it was her second release "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" that spiraled into the top five best sellers in America and established her as a top rank recording artiste. If a clincher was needed, it was achieved when her third record came out called "Norman" which even surpassed "Sad Movies". Summing it all up, Sue Thompson is a great person with a wonderful future in view.'
Later career
"Paper Tiger" in 1965 was her last Top 30 hit. In the late 1960s, she went back to country music and released the album This Is Sue Thompson Country in 1969. In 1971 she worked with country musicCountry 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...
singer Don Gibson
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.-Biography:Don Gibson was...
on some albums, and they had minor hits with "I Think They Call It Love", "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" and "Oh, How Love Changes". She recorded further solo singles for the country
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...
charts, like "Big Mable Murphy", which made the Top 50 in 1975 and "Never Naughty Rosie", her last chart single in 1976. She also performed mainly at the Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
casinos and at clubs in Hollywood, like the Palomino Club. In the 1990s she settled 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...
, and continues to perform from time to time.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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... |
US Country | ||
| 1961 | Meet Sue Thompson | — | — |
| 1962 | Two of a Kind | — | — |
| 1963 | Golden Hits | — | — |
| 1965 | Paper Tiger | 134 | — |
| 1966 | Sue Thompson with Strings Attached | — | — |
| 1969 | This Is Sue Thompson Country | — | — |
| 1972 | The Two of Us Together (with Don Gibson Don Gibson Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.-Biography:Don Gibson was... ) |
— | — |
| 1974 | Sweet Memories | — | — |
| And Love Me | — | — | |
| 1975 | Oh How Love Changes (with Don Gibson) | — | 43 |
| Big Mable Murphy | — | — |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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... |
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 AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
|||
| 1961 | "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) "Sad Movies " is a 1961 pop song by the American singer Sue Thompson. The song was written by John D. Loudermilk and appears on Thompson's 1962 Hickory Records album Meet Sue Thompson.... " |
5 | — | 1 | Meet Sue Thompson |
| "Norman" | 3 | — | — | ||
| 1962 | "Two of a Kind" | 42 | — | 8 | Two of a Kind |
| "Have a Good Time" | 31 | — | 9 | Golden Hits | |
| "If Only the Boy Knew" (flip side) | 112 | — | — | ||
| "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)" | 17 | — | — | ||
| "Willie Can" | 78 | — | — | ||
| 1963 | "What's Wrong Bill" | 135 | — | — | Paper Tiger |
| 1964 | "Big Daddy" | 132 | — | — | single only |
| "Paper Tiger"A | 23 | — | — | Paper Tiger | |
| 1965 | "What I'm Needin' Is You" | 115 | — | — | |
| 1972 | "Candy and Roses" | — | 72 | — | Sweet Memories |
| 1975 | "Big Mable Murphy" | — | 50 | 40 | Big Mable Murphy |
| 1976 | "Never Naughty Rosie" | — | 95 | — | single only |
- A"Paper Tiger" peaked at #8 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.
Singles with Don Gibson
| 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 | |||
| 1971 | "The Two of Us Together" | 50 | — | The Two of Us Together |
| "Did You Ever Think" | 71 | — | ||
| "I Think They Call It Love" | 37 | — | ||
| 1972 | "Cause I Love You" | 64 | — | |
| "Go With Me" | 52 | 49 | ||
| 1973 | "Warm Love" | 53 | 52 | |
| 1974 | "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" | 31 | 29 | Oh, How Love Changes |
| 1975 | "Oh, How Love Changes" | 36 | — | |
| 1976 | "Get Ready, Here I Come" | 98 | — |
External links
- [ Sue Thompson Discography at Allmusic]
- Sue Thompson Unofficial Site
- (http://www.suethompsoninternational.com/ Sue Thompson Official Site)