Eddy Arnold

Country singer Eddy Arnold – born Richard Edward Arnold on May 15, 1918, in Henderson, Tennessee – was best known as one of the pioneers of the ‘Nashville Sound’ that proved to be successful on both the country and pop music charts in the 1960s. With over 140 charting hits on Billboard’s Country Singles chart, Eddy Arnold sold more than 85 million records over the course of his career. Eddy Arnold made his public singing debut at the age of 16 on a radio station in Jackson, Tennessee and began performing at nightclubs shortly thereafter. By 1944, he had signed with RCA Victor and was being managed by Colonel Tom Parker (who would later guide Elvis Presley’s career). Eddy Arnold’s second single for RCA, “Each Minute Seems a Million Years” (1945), rose to number 5 on Billboard’s Country Singles chart. Throughout the remainder of the 1940s and well into the 1950, he continued to have numerous Top 10 hits including nine chart toppers. However, when rock and roll began to dominate the charts, Eddy Arnold struggled to make the Top 10 with 1959’s “Tennessee Stud” making it all the way to number 5. The 1960s brought more chart struggles although he did reach the Top 10 three times in 1962: “Tears Broke Out on Me” (number 7), “A Little Heartache” (number 3), and “Does He Mean That Much to You” (number 5). Realizing that he had to make a change, Eddy Arnold blended his classic country music style with pop music, creating a crossover genre that would later be called ‘The Nashville Sound.’ In 1965, he scored his first number 1 single in a decade with “What’s He Doing in My World,” which was followed by more chart toppers including “Make the World Go Away” (1965), “I Want to Go with You” (1966), “Somebody Like Me” (1966), “Lonely Again” (1967), “Turn the World Around” (1967), and “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” (1968). Eddy Arnold continued to release a series of Top 10, Top 20, and Top 40 country singles up through 1983, when he decided to go into semi-retirement. Remarkably, he released over 50 albums, 167 singles, and over two dozen compilations throughout the years. He had become a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1943 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. Eddy Arnold officially retired in 2005. He died on May 8, 2008, at the age of 89.

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