Country GOLD NEWS

1933
Born on this day in Greenville, Mississippi, was Ben Peters, country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 40 of his songs and 4 of them went to #1 on the American country charts. Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980. Peters was briefly a recording artist himself; his only charting hit was "San Francisco is a Lonely Town", which hit #46 on the country charts in 1969. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 25, 2005.

1945
Born on this day in Springhill, Nova Scotia, was Anne Murray, the Canadian singer whose albums have sold over 54 million copies. Murray became the first Canadian female solo singer to reach #1 on the US charts, and also the first to earn a Gold record for one of her signature songs, "Snowbird". She is also the first woman and the first Canadian to win "Album of the Year" at the Country Music Association Awards for her 1984 album A Little Good News.

1949
Born on this day in Tuskegee, Alabama, was Lionel Richie, singer, songwriter and one time member of the Commodores. Kenny Rogers scored the 1980 crossover country hit with the Richie written and produced track "Lady". Richie released his tenth studio album, Tuskegee in 2012 which features 13 of his hit songs performed as duets with country stars including Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Little Big Town, Shania Twain, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett. The album returned him to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, his first #1 album there for more than 25 years.

1965
Ira Louvin from The Louvin Brothers was killed in a car crash. His fourth wife, Anne Young, and he were on the way home from a performance in Kansas City when they came to a section of construction on Highway 70 outside of Williamsburg, Missouri, where traffic had been reduced down to one lane. A drunken driver struck their car head-on, and both Ira and Anne were killed instantly. At the time, a warrant for Ira's arrest had been issued on a DUI charge. Rolling Stone ranked the Louvin Brothers #4 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.

1967
Born on this day, Dan Tyminski, American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist with Alison Krauss and Union Station who has also released the solo albums Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000) and Wheels (2008).

1991
Garth Brooks was at #1 on the US country chart with his third studio album, Ropin' the Wind. The album replaced his previous album No Fences at the #1 postion, where it enjoyed a combined 18 weeks at the top of the charts.

2004
Filming began in Memphis on Walk The Line a Johnny Cash biopic. Joaquin Phoenix starred as the Man In Black, Reese Witherspoon portrays June Carter, Shooter Jennings is Waylon Jennings, and Shelby Lynne acts as Cash’s mother. When released in 2005, Phoenix won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Hollywood Film Award for Actor of the Year.

2007
The Academy of Country Music presented the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award to Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams and songwriter Harlan Howard at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. Buck Owens received the Jim Reeves International Award.

2015
Chris Stapleton was at #1 on the US Country chart with his debut studio album Traveller which was later named Album of the Year at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards.

2018
"Meant to Be" by American singer Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line was at #1 on the Country charts. In August 2018, the song broke the record previously held by 2017's "Body Like a Back Road" by Sam Hunt for the most weeks at #1 on the US Hot Country Songs chart after spending 50 weeks at the top, it was dethroned by Kane Brown's "Lose It".