Wilma Burgess
Encyclopedia
Wilma Burgess was an American
country music
singer. She rose to fame in the mid 1960s and charted fifteen singles on the Billboard
C&W
charts between 1965 and 1975.
. Following high school graduation she proceeded to Stetson University
in Deland, Florida
studying physical education. She had no interest in a musical career - although she had displayed her natural talent performing as a Pop singer on local television - until hearing Eddy Arnold
in concert awakened her passion for C&W music.
In 1960 a songwriter friend of Burgess persuaded her to go to Nashville
to record some demos of his compositions. One of the publishers Burgess sang for asked to manage her singing career and Burgess cut her first single in the fall of 1962 for the United Artists label.
Eventually Burgess came to the attention of Owen Bradley
who heard in Burgess' voice the potential for a successor to the recently deceased Patsy Cline
who Bradley had produced.
Bradley arranged for Burgess' signing with Decca
where she had her first session in June 1964.
song "Baby" on 24 September 1965: the track proved to be Burgess' breakout hit reaching #7 C&W.
Burgess' expertise with teary ballads was further exemplified with the follow-ups "Don't Touch Me
" (#12 C&W) and "Misty Blue
" (#4) and logically her successful versions of these C&W classic tunes would have consolidated Burgess' position as a major player on the Nashville scene.
However Burgess' versions of both "Don't Touch Me" and "Misty Blue" were both overshadowed, the first by the concurrent release of a more successful version of "Don't Touch Me" by Jeannie Seely
- for whom Hank Cochran
(then Seely's husband) had written the song.
Then "Misty Blue" - handed down to Burgess after being rejected by Brenda Lee
- was shortly established as a trademark song for Burgess' prime influence Eddy Arnold
whose version in the spring of 1967 not only reached #3 C&W but became a regional Pop hit reaching #57 nationally.
Burgess association with Bradley and Decca Records ended in 1971; that same year she signed with Shannon a label owned by Jim Reeves
Enterprises (Burgess was a close friend of Reeves' widow Mary Reeves). Five of Burgess' single releases on Shannon appeared on the C&W chart with the 1973 duet with Bud Logan "Wake Me Into Love" providing a on-off return to the Top 40 at #14.
In 1975 Burgess left Shannon signing with RCA Records
where her uneventful tenure lasted until 1978.
In 1982 she ended her recording career with the album Could I Have This Dance on 51West a Columbia Records
label.
Later in the decade Burgess opened the Hitching Post - described as Nashville's first women-only bar - where she regularly performed.
Burgess also worked on and off with Mary Reeves running the Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville.
It has been noted by Jim Ed Brown that Burgess was also a decent poker player, having taken both Ernest Tubb and Tubb's bus driver's money while on tour together.
Burgess was openly a lesbian
and preferred to record love songs with no gender-specific references. She did sometimes agree to record songs such as "Ain't Got No Man" on condition that her producer Owen Bradley let her record a song she liked but he didn't.
. She was 64, and had been hospitalized for a week for tests, and had seemed to be on the road to recovery.
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...
singer. She rose to fame in the mid 1960s and charted fifteen singles on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
C&W
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 between 1965 and 1975.
Background
Wilma Burgess was born and raised in Orlando, FloridaOrlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. Following high school graduation she proceeded to Stetson University
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
in Deland, Florida
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...
studying physical education. She had no interest in a musical career - although she had displayed her natural talent performing as a Pop singer on local television - until hearing Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
in concert awakened her passion for C&W music.
In 1960 a songwriter friend of Burgess persuaded her to go to 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...
to record some demos of his compositions. One of the publishers Burgess sang for asked to manage her singing career and Burgess cut her first single in the fall of 1962 for the United Artists label.
Eventually Burgess came to the attention of Owen Bradley
Owen Bradley
Owen Bradley was an American record producer who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.-Before the fame:...
who heard in Burgess' voice the potential for a successor to the recently deceased Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
who Bradley had produced.
Bradley arranged for Burgess' signing with Decca
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 had her first session in June 1964.
Career peak
After three unsuccessful single releases Bradley had Burgess record the Ray GriffRay Griff
Ray Griff is a Canadian country music singer and songwriter from Vancouver, British Columbia. Griff began songwriting in the early 1960s and had early cuts by Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, and others. Griff moved to Nashville in 1964 to pursue his music career full-time...
song "Baby" on 24 September 1965: the track proved to be Burgess' breakout hit reaching #7 C&W.
Burgess' expertise with teary ballads was further exemplified with the follow-ups "Don't Touch Me
Don't Touch Me
"Don't Touch Me" is the name of a classic country music song originally recorded and made famous by Jeannie Seely in 1966.-History:"Don't Touch Me" was written by Jeannie Seely's husband, Hank Cochran, the songwriter who wrote Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" and Eddy Arnold's "Make the World Go...
" (#12 C&W) and "Misty Blue
Misty Blue
"Misty Blue" is a song written by Bob Montgomery in 1966 which has become a hit in the pop, C&W and soul fields through various versions, the most successful being the 1976 pop/soul hit by Dorothy Moore.-C&W hit versions:...
" (#4) and logically her successful versions of these C&W classic tunes would have consolidated Burgess' position as a major player on the Nashville scene.
However Burgess' versions of both "Don't Touch Me" and "Misty Blue" were both overshadowed, the first by the concurrent release of a more successful version of "Don't Touch Me" by Jeannie Seely
Jeannie Seely
Jeannie Seely is an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry star. She is best-known for her 1966 Grammy award-winning Country hit, "Don't Touch Me", which peaked at No...
- for whom Hank Cochran
Hank Cochran
Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold and others...
(then Seely's husband) had written the song.
Then "Misty Blue" - handed down to Burgess after being rejected by Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
- was shortly established as a trademark song for Burgess' prime influence Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
whose version in the spring of 1967 not only reached #3 C&W but became a regional Pop hit reaching #57 nationally.
1967 on
Continuing to record with Owen Bradley, Burgess placed seven more singles on the C&W chart but only the first two of these: "Fifteen Days" (#24) and "Tear Time" (#15) both 1967 reached the Top 40.Burgess association with Bradley and Decca Records ended in 1971; that same year she signed with Shannon a label owned by Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
Enterprises (Burgess was a close friend of Reeves' widow Mary Reeves). Five of Burgess' single releases on Shannon appeared on the C&W chart with the 1973 duet with Bud Logan "Wake Me Into Love" providing a on-off return to the Top 40 at #14.
In 1975 Burgess left Shannon signing 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...
where her uneventful tenure lasted until 1978.
In 1982 she ended her recording career with the album Could I Have This Dance on 51West a 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...
label.
Later in the decade Burgess opened the Hitching Post - described as Nashville's first women-only bar - where she regularly performed.
Burgess also worked on and off with Mary Reeves running the Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville.
It has been noted by Jim Ed Brown that Burgess was also a decent poker player, having taken both Ernest Tubb and Tubb's bus driver's money while on tour together.
Burgess was openly a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
and preferred to record love songs with no gender-specific references. She did sometimes agree to record songs such as "Ain't Got No Man" on condition that her producer Owen Bradley let her record a song she liked but he didn't.
Death
Wilma Burgess died unexpectedly Monday, August 26, 2003 at 4:05 a.m. at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, after suffering a massive heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. She was 64, and had been hospitalized for a week for tests, and had seemed to be on the road to recovery.
- In 1965 Burgess purchased the Nashville home that had belonged to Patsy ClinePatsy ClinePatsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
; the purchase was made from Cline's widower Charlie Dick. Burgess had attended Cline's 30th birthday party and housewarming at the home six months before Cline's fatal accident. Burgess also purchased Jim Reeves' touring bus "Big Blue."
- Burgess appeared in the 1966 film The Las Vegas HillbillysThe Las Vegas HillbillysThe Las Vegas Hillbillys is a 1966 American country music comedy film directed by Arthur C. Pierce.-Cast:*Ferlin Husky ... Woody*Jayne Mansfield ... Tawny*Mamie Van Doren ... Boots Malone*Don Bowman ... Jeepers*Billie Bird ... Ma...
singing "Baby". The film which starred Jayne MansfieldJayne MansfieldJayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
was a B-movie whose only noted redeeming value was that it showcased several top C&W performers.
Singles
| Year | Single | 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... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | "Confuses" | — | non-album singles |
| 1964 | "Raining in My Pillow" | — | |
| 1965 | "You Can't Stop My Heart from Breaking" | — | Don't Touch Me |
| "The Closest Thing to Love" | — | ||
| "Baby" | 7 | ||
| 1966 | "Don't Touch Me Don't Touch Me "Don't Touch Me" is the name of a classic country music song originally recorded and made famous by Jeannie Seely in 1966.-History:"Don't Touch Me" was written by Jeannie Seely's husband, Hank Cochran, the songwriter who wrote Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" and Eddy Arnold's "Make the World Go... " |
12 | |
| "Misty Blue Misty Blue "Misty Blue" is a song written by Bob Montgomery in 1966 which has become a hit in the pop, C&W and soul fields through various versions, the most successful being the 1976 pop/soul hit by Dorothy Moore.-C&W hit versions:... " |
4 | Misty Blue | |
| 1967 | "Fifteen Days" | 24 | |
| "Tear Time Tear Time "Tear Time" is a 1967 single by Wilma Burgess. "Tear Time" would be Wilma Burgess' fifth hit on the country chart. The single peaked at number sixteen on the country chart and spent sixteen weeks on the country chart .-Chart performance:... " |
15 | Tear Time | |
| 1968 | "Watch the Roses Grow" | — | The Tender Lovin' Country Sound |
| "Look at the Laughter" | 59 | Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow | |
| 1969 | "Parting (Is Such Sweet Sorrow)" | 68 | |
| "The Woman in Your Life" | 48 | non-album singles | |
| "The Sun's Gotta Shine" | 48 | ||
| 1970 | "Lonely for You" | 63 | |
| 1971 | "Until My Dreams Come True" | — | |
| "I See Her Love All Over You" | — | ||
| 1973 | "Feeling the Way a Woman Should" | — | |
| "I'll Be Your Bridge (Just Lay Me Down)" | 61 | ||
| 1974 | "Love Is Here" | 46 | |
| 1975 | "Baby's Not Forgotten" | — | |
| "Satisfied Man" | — | ||
| 1977 | "Use Me" | — | |
| "Once You Were Mine" | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
Collaborations with Buddy Logan
| Year | Single | US Country | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | "Wake Me Into Love" | 14 | Wake Me Into Love |
| 1974 | "The Best Day of the Rest of Our Love' | 53 | |
| 1975 | "Love Is the Foundation" | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
B-sides
| Year | Song | US Country | A-Side |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Sweet Lovin' Baby" | 86 | "Love Is Here" |
Selected albums
| Year | Album | US Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Misty Blue | |
| Don't Touch Me | 3 | |
| 1967 | Wilma Burgess Sings Misty Blue | 5 |
| Tear Time | 36 | |
| 1968 | The Tender Lovin' Country Sound | |
| 1969 | Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow | |
| 1974 | Wake Me into Love (with Buddy Logan) | |
| 1982 | Could I Have This Dance |
External links
- Official Wilma Burgess MySpace Music Page Official Wilma Burgess MySpace Music Page
- Wilma Burgess Home Page