On This Day in 1975, Country Music Lost the Singer Who Inspired Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, George Jones, and “Perhaps the Biggest Supergroup of All Time”
Lefty Frizzell, one of country music's most influential vocalists, died on 19 July 1975 after suffering a stroke at the age of 47. Though his own chart success was concentrated in the 1950s, his distinctive vocal style, itself inspired by Jimmie Rodgers, went on to shape generations of singers, including George Jones, George Strait, Randy Travis and Merle Haggard, while Roy Orbison paid tribute by taking the stage name "Lefty Wilbury" in the Traveling Wilburys.
Frizzell signed with Columbia Records after his demos impressed producer Don Law, and his 1950 debut single "If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time)" backed with "I Love You a Thousand Ways" topped the country charts. He went on to reach the top 10 seventeen times in the 1950s, with five songs hitting number one, though his only 1960s top 10 hit was "Saginaw, Michigan" in 1964. He also wrote enduring songs later recorded by other artists, including "Mom and Dad's Waltz" (George Jones) and "That's the Way Love Goes" (a number one for Merle Haggard).
- Country singer-songwriter Lefty Frizzell died on 19 July 1975, aged 47
- His vocal style influenced Jones, Haggard, Nelson, Strait and Orbison
- Wrote/recorded 1950s hits including five number-one country singles