Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.

History[link]

1950s[link]

Liberty's early releases focused on film and orchestral music. Its first single was Lionel Newman's "The Girl Upstairs."^[1][2] Its first big hit, in 1955, was by Julie London singing her version of torch song Cry Me a River, which climbed to US#9. It helped Liberty sell her first album, Julie Is Her Name. She was to record 32 albums in her career.

In 1956, Liberty signed the little-known Henry Mancini. They released two singles and several albums for him, but he left in 1959 when he got hot. Billy Rose and Lee David song Tonight You Belong to Me scored a US#4 and UK#28 as performed by teen sisters Patience and Prudence (McIntyre), selling over a million copies.^[3][4](It was first recorded in 1927, revived by Frankie Laine in 1952.)

Their biggest early rock and roll artist was Eddie Cochran,^[5] who had just starred in his second film, Untamed Youth. His first hit for the label was John D. Loudermilk's "Sittin' in the Balcony" in 1957, then came Summertime Blues and C'mon Everybody.

The label was also home to R&B veterans Billy Ward and His Dominoes after Jackie Wilson quit, replacing him with ex-Lark Eugene Mumford.^[6] They hit with hoary Hoagy Carmichael 1927 song Stardust – already recorded by many artists – which rode the pop charts for 24 weeks and got as high as US#13. The track also reached #13 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1957.^[3] It was to be their only million seller.^[4]

By 1958, Liberty was close to bankruptcy when Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. convinced them that they might as well press singles of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with the leftover vinyl pucks and labels in their warehouse. (The 'Munks were named after Liberty execs.) In just a few months leading up to Christmas of 1958, the record shot to the top of the charts. It became the only Christmas record to reach #1 on the pop chart, selling 4.5 million copies.^[7] Liberty was back in business.

In 1957, Liberty acquired Dick Bock's jazz label, Pacific Jazz Records.^[8] That same year, the World Pacific label was started in conjunction with Pacific Jazz.

1960s and 70s[link]

Liberty's most successful signing of the early '60s would be Fargo-born teen idol Bobby Vee. They picked up his single recorded for Soma with his combo The Shadows, "Suzie Baby", and stuck with him as a solo act. Ears perked up over his reading of The Clovers' 1955 doo-wop ballad ^[9] Devil or Angel in mid-1960. In the summer of 1961 he got a hole-in-one with the Gerry Goffin/Carole King tune Take Good Care of My Baby ... a US#1, UK#3.^[1][10] He regularly cranked out Hot-100 hits through 1970.

Other major singings included Johnny Burnette, Eugene McDaniels, Del Shannon, and Gary Lewis and The Playboys.

In 1963, the Liberty Records label was sold to Avnet (an electronics corporation) for $12 million. Avnet also bought Blue Note Records, Imperial Records, Dolton Records, Aladdin Records and Minit Records. After two years of losses, Avnet sold the labels back to Al Bennett for $8 million. In 1966, a reissue label, Sunset Records, was started to deal with previously issued records from the new labels.

Liberty recordings were first distributed in England by Decca Records on London Records, then by EMI, which released the recordings on the Liberty label. Liberty established a branch office in London, which signed acts such as the Bonzo Dog Band, Idle Race and The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Liberty also signed The Searchers for a short time in 1968 and in 1967 they issued the first single by Family. Ron Kass, onetime president of Liberty Records, later became the head of the Beatles' record label, Apple Records, and Ron Bledsoe, assistant to Al Bennett, was picked by Clive Davis to run the Nashville arm of Columbia Records.

In 1966, singer (and Imperial artist) Johnny Rivers started another Liberty subsidiary, Soul City Records. The following year, Liberty discontinued the Dolton label and moved its artists to the parent label.

In 1968, Liberty was bought for $38 million by Transamerica Corporation (an insurance company) and combined with their other label United Artists Records. Two years later they shut down Imperial and Minit and transferred their artists to Liberty. Finally in 1971, Liberty and its remaining labels (with the exception of Soul City in which the name was held onto by its owner Johnny Rivers and its catalog sold to Bell Records) were shifted to United Artists Records and Liberty Records was no more.

In 1970, Liberty act Sugarloaf scored a top 10 hit in the United States with "Green-Eyed Lady", which reached #3 on the Billboard chart. Sugarloaf would score again in 1975 with "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (US #9).

In 1978, Artie Mogull and Jerry Rubinstein acquired United Artists and Liberty Records (with money they borrowed from Capitol Records, which ironically was originally going to be named Liberty Records before changing names prior to incorporation). In February 1979, Capitol's parent company EMI foreclosed on them and has owned the rights of the Liberty labels since then.

1980s and 1990s[link]

In 1980, EMI dropped the United Artists name and revived the Liberty name.^[11] Initially, EMI used Liberty to reissue the United Artists, Liberty and Imperial catalogues. From 1980 until 1984, Capitol used Liberty as a country music label, featuring such artists as Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. In 1991, EMI renamed its Capitol Nashville label to Liberty Records, before returning to the Capitol Nashville name four years later.

In 1994, Liberty Records president Jimmy Bowen also founded a sister label to Liberty called Patriot Records, whose roster included Bryan Austin, Lisa Brokop, John Berry, Deana Carter, John Bunzow and Noah Gordon. Berry had previously been on Liberty, while the other acts were newly signed. After the label closed in 1995, Berry, Brokop and Carter transferred to Capitol Nashville.^[12]

Liberty Records in the 2000s in the United Kingdom[link]

After releasing many late-1990s Europop records like the Hermes House Band, EMI reformatted the label in 2001 to focus on 'heritage acts'. The label, now operating in a similar sphere to that of rival Sanctuary, signed a number of acts, such as The Alarm MMVI, The Stranglers and Prefab Sprout.

Liberty Records artists[link]

See also[link]

• List of record labels

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Liberty Records Story

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2008)

Suzy Bogguss
Suzy Bogguss at Aledo, IL Rhubarb Festival Concert on June 6th, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Susan Kay Bogguss
Born	(1956-12-30) December 30, 1956 (age 55)
Origin	Aledo, Illinois, USA
Genres	Country, Folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Acoustic guitar, Piano
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Capitol Liberty Platinum Compadre
Associated acts	Lee Greenwood Matraca Berg Gretchen Peters Kathy Mattea Patty Loveless Pam Tillis Reba McEntire Billy Dean
Website	Suzy Bogguss Official Site

Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.

After taking a brief recording hiatus in the mid-1990s to start a family with her husband, songwriter Doug Crider, Bogguss returned to the country music industry, but did not match her previous commercial success. Although she last appeared on the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart in 2001, Bogguss continues to record and perform around the country.

Early life and rise to success[link]

Bogguss was born in Aledo, Illinois. At the age of 5, she began singing in the Angel Choir of the College Avenue Presbyterian Church in her hometown. With the encouragement of her parents, she took lessons in piano and drums, and as a teenager picked up the guitar as well. She starred in several musicals at Aledo High School, where she was crowned homecoming queen during her senior year. After graduating in 1975, she enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan University, but later transferred to Illinois State University, graduating in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in metalsmithing.

While in college, Bogguss sang and played guitar and drums in local coffeehouses, and after graduating became a regular on the club circuit in the Quad Cities area, performing frequently in Davenport, Rock Island, Kewanee and Peoria. In 1980, she began touring the United States, and produced her first independent album, Suzy, on the Old Shack Recording label. This LP was available for purchase at her shows and is now considered to be a rare collector's item.

In 1985, Bogguss moved to Nashville, where she worked as a demo singer by day and played in clubs at night. The following year, she became the first featured female performer at Dollywood, a theme park owned by country music legend Dolly Parton. This prompted her to produce an eponymous demo cassette, which she sold at her Dollywood shows. During this time she met songwriter and future husband Doug Crider, who penned one of the songs on the demo. Eventually, the demo caught the attention of a record label executive Jim Foglesong, who offered her a recording contract on the Liberty/Capitol Nashville label.

Liberty/Capitol recording career[link]

In 1987, Bogguss released her first singles on the Liberty/Capitol label. Of these ("I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," "Love Will Never Slip Away," and "Come as You Were"), two succeeded in making the lower reaches of the country music charts, but were left off her first LP, Somewhere Between, in March, 1989. The album, with its blend of traditional and contemporary styles, drew positive reviews, and Bogguss finally struck gold when the record's second single, "Cross My Broken Heart," became a top twenty hit on the country music charts. Following its success, she was named the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist.

For her second album, Moment of Truth, production tasks were taken over by new label-head and Nashville heavyweight Jimmy Bowen, who moved Bogguss's sound in a more polished direction. However, the album's two singles failed to rise beyond the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. A duet she recorded with Lee Greenwood, "Hopelessly Yours," went to #12 on the country singles chart and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.

In 1991 Bogguss released the platinum-selling Aces. The LP yielded four hit singles - "Someday Soon," "Outbound Plane," "Aces," and "Letting Go," the latter three all reaching the country Top Ten. The following year, the Country Music Association recognized her achievements by giving her its Horizon Award, awarded annually to the artist who has demonstrated the most significant creative growth and development.

Her 1992 follow-up, Voices in the Wind, earned Bogguss her second straight gold record. The album's first single, a cover of John Hiatt's "Drive South", just missed the #1 spot but gave Bogguss the highest-charting hit of her career to date. Her streak continued the following year with another gold record, Something Up My Sleeve, giving her two additional Top Five hits in "Just Like the Weather" and "Hey Cinderella". The latter, which she cowrote with Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, has gone on to become one of Bogguss's trademark songs.

After the successes of those two years, Bogguss changed direction, parting with Bowen, who had produced her four previous albums. Her 1994 release, Simpatico, was a low-key album of duets with long-time friend and guitar legend Chet Atkins. Although the album was generally well reviewed, its lone single, "One More for the Road," did not chart. Many feel this was due to Capitol's being distracted by the feud between Bowen and the label's biggest star at the time, Garth Brooks.^{[citation needed]} The disagreement ultimately ended with Bowen leaving the label and Simpatico falling through the cracks. The same year, Bogguss's Greatest Hits album was released and went gold.

In 1994, Bogguss collaborated with Alison Krauss, Kathy Mattea, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to contribute "Teach Your Children" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Not long after Simpatico was recorded, Bogguss temporarily set her music aside to start a family. Bogguss and Crider's first child, Benton Charles Crider, was born on March 17, 1995. Sixteen months later, she was back with her sixth solo album (excluding her greatest hits compilation), entitled Give Me Some Wheels. During her hiatus, the climate of country music had changed considerably, with more pop-oriented female singers such as Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Sara Evans and Shania Twain dominating the charts. Bogguss's traditional, straightforward style failed to connect with younger listeners, and the record yielded disappointing sales.

After her next album, 1998's Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt, also proved unsuccessful, Bogguss was dropped from the Liberty/Capitol label. With her typical grace and aplomb, she issued the following statement on February 18, 1999:

Indie Label recording career[link]

In May 1999, Bogguss found a new home with Nashville-based fledgling label Platinum Records, headed by chief George Collier, who had formerly worked at Capitol. Within three months, she had released her debut, a self-titled album, not to be confused with the independently produced LP from her days as a traveling folk troubadour. (Adding to the confusion is the fact that the album is sometimes referred to as It's a Perfect Day.) Again, the album floundered, with only one single even making an appearance on the country charts.

In 2001, Bogguss decided to form her own record label, Loyal Dutchess. Its first release was the album Live at Caffé Milano, culled from three separate 1999 performances at the now-closed Caffé Milano in Nashville, TN. This release is only available for purchase at Bogguss's official website. A few months later, she released the holiday album, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, a combination of new and previously available material included through a special licensing agreement with her old label, Capitol. In addition to being available at her website, the CD was also offered through Amazon.com, select retailers, and at her live performances.

In March, 2003, Bogguss and her own Loyal Dutchess Records label secured a deal with Compadre Records. Her first release on this label was the pure Western swing album, Swing, that she had been recording with producer Ray Benson, the 6'7" frontman of Western swing group Asleep at the Wheel. Although the album saw only lukewarm sales (it reached #6 on the jazz album charts, but failed to appear on the Billboard 200), it was a critical success. She then released Sweet Danger in 2007, which failed to reach the country charts, but peaked at #4 on the jazz charts.

Discography[link]

References[link]

• Bufwack, Mary A. "Suzy Bogguss." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. (1998). Paul Kinsgbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 43.
• "Suzy Bogguss" in Country Music: the encyclopedia. (1997). Irwin Stambler, Grelun Landon. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 40-41.

External links[link]

• Suzy Bogguss Official Site

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010)

Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.

Biography[link]

Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town southeast of Pittsburgh. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. When visiting an aunt in California at age 20, Clark decided to stay and began working with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Clark went to San Francisco with Oscar Pettiford and after a couple months, was working with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco in 1953. Clark toured the U.S. and Europe with DeFranco until January 1956, when he joined The Lighthouse All-Stars, led by bassist Howard Rumsey.

Wishing to return to the east coast, Clark served as accompanist for singer Dinah Washington in February 1957 in order to relocate to New York City. In New York, Clark was often requested as a sideman by many musicians, partly because of his rhythmic comping. He frequently recorded for Blue Note Records, playing as a sideman with many hard bop players, including Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jordan, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, and Wilbur Ware. He also recorded sessions with Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, Stanley Turrentine, and Lee Morgan.

As a band leader, Clark recorded albums "Dial "S" for Sonny" (1957), "Sonny's Crib" (1957), Sonny Clark Trio (1957), with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, and Cool Struttin' (1958). Sonny Clark Trio, with George Duvivier and Max Roach was released in 1960.

Clark died of a heart attack in New York City,^[1] although commentators attribute the early death to Clark's drug and alcohol abuse.^[1][2][3]

Close friend and fellow jazz pianist Bill Evans dedicated the composition "NYC's No Lark" (an anagram of "Sonny Clark") to him after his death, included on Evans' Conversations with Myself (1963). John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond, and Bobby Previte recorded an album of Clark's compositions, Voodoo (1985), as The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet. Zorn also recorded several of Clark's compositions with Bill Frisell and George Lewis on News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1992).

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Oakland, 1955 (1955), Uptown
• Dial "S" for Sonny (1957), Blue Note
• Sonny's Crib (1957), Blue Note
• Sonny Clark Trio (1957), Blue Note
• Sonny Clark Quintets (1957), Blue Note
• Cool Struttin' (1958), Blue Note
• The Art of The Trio (1958), Blue Note
• Blues in the Night (1958), Blue Note
• My Conception (1959), Blue Note
• Sonny Clark Trio (1960), Time/Bainbridge - with Max Roach, George Duvivier
• Leapin' and Lopin' (1961), Blue Note

Compilations

• Standards (1998), Blue Note

As sideman[link]

With Tina Brooks

• Minor Move (1958)

With Serge Chaloff

• Blue Serge (1956)

With Buddy DeFranco

• In a Mellow Mood (1954)
• Cooking the Blues (1955)
• Autumn Leaves (1956)
• Sweet and Lovely (1956)
• Jazz Tones (1956)

With Lou Donaldson

• Lou Takes Off (1957)

With Curtis Fuller

• Bone & Bari (1957)
• Curtis Fuller Volume 3 (1957)
• Two Bones (1958)

With Dexter Gordon

• Go (1962)
• A Swingin' Affair (1962)

With Bennie Green

• Soul Stirrin' (1958)
• The 45 Session (1958)
• Bennie Green Swings the Blues (1959)

With Grant Green^[4]

• Gooden's Corner (1961*)
• Nigeria (1962*)
• Oleo (1962*)

The albums were recorded in 61-62 on Blue Note, but released later.

• Born to Be Blue (1962)

With Johnny Griffin

• The Congregation (1957)

With John Jenkins

• John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell (1957)

With Clifford Jordan

• Cliff Craft (1957)

With Jackie McLean

• Jackie's Bag (1959)
• A Fickle Sonance (1961)
• Vertigo (1962)
• Tippin' the Scales (1962)

With Hank Mobley

• Poppin' (1957)
• Hank Mobley (1957)
• Curtin Call (1957)

With Lee Morgan

• Candy (1958)

With Ike Quebec

• Easy Living (1962)

With Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse

• Mexican Passport (1956)
• Music for Lighthousekeeping (1956)
• Oboe/Flute (1956)

With Louis Smith

• Smithville (1958)

With Stanley Turrentine

• Jubilee Shout!!! (1962)

With Don Wilkerson

• Preach Brother! (1962)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sonny Clark -Pittsburgh Music History

Book sources[link]

• Feather, Leonard (2002). Sonny Clark Trio [CD liner notes]. Blue Note Records.
• Palmer, Robert (March 18, 1987). "The Pop Life; Recalling Sonny Clark". The New York Times. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.

The Marketts were an American instrumental pop group, formed in Hollywood, California. They are best known for their 1963 million-seller, "Out of Limits".

Biography[link]

The Marketts^[1]' line-up featured Michael Z. Gordon^[2] and various session musicians from the Los Angeles area. The group's direction was spearheaded by producer Joe Saraceno and Michael Z. Gordon^[3] producer, although Saraceno did not arrange or play on any of the group's material.^[4] Gordon's songs which were composed for the Marketss are best remembered for their surf rock hits, though not all of their material has this sound; Saraceno took the group's style in whatever direction he thought would catch the record-buying public's ear. In the U.S., the group had three Top 40 hits and had two popular albums.

The Marketts surfer sound started with "Surfer's Stomp"^[5] which was by written by and produced by Michael Z. Gordon^[6] and Joe Saraceno. Gordon also wrote their biggest hit big with "Out of Limits"^[7] which was composed by Michael Z. Gordon^[8]/ Gordon formed the The Marketts^[9] in January 1961^[10] the British music magazine NME noted that "Surfer's Stomp" was doing well stateside.^[11]

The Marketts' biggest hit was composed by Michael Z. Gordon and was originally entitled "Outer Limits", named after the television program of the same name; however, Rod Serling sued the Marketts for quoting the 4 note motif from his television show "The Twilight Zone" without his approval, which resulted in the change of the title to "Out of Limits". (Source: "Dick Clark's 25 Years of Rock and Roll".) It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[12] The band name was used as late as 1977 for further releases, though their last hit came in 1966.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Surfer's Stomp (Liberty Records, 1962)
• Marketts Take to Wheels (Warner Bros. Records, 1963)
• The Surfing Scene (Liberty, 1963)
• Out of Limits! (Warner, 1964) U.S. #37^[13]
• The Batman Theme (Warner, 1966) U.S. #82^[13] (1. "Batman Theme" 2. "Bat Cave" 3. "Robin the Boy Wonder" 4. "Bat Signal" 5. "Batmobile" 6. "The Joker" 7. "The Penguin" 8. "The Bat" 9. "Dr. Death" 10. "The Riddler" 11. "Bat Cape" 12. "The Cat Woman")
• Sun Power (World Pacific, 1967)
• AM, FM, Etc. (Mercury Records, 1973) Stereo SRM 1-679 (featured new versions of "Balboa Blue" and "Surfer's Stomp" and a cover of the Mystery Movie theme)
• Tryin' to Get That Feeling (Arista Records, 1975)

Singles[link]

• "Balboa Blue" (1962) U.S. #48^[14]
• "Surfer's Stomp" (1962) U.S. #31 written by Michael Z. Gordon and Joe Saraceno^[15]
• "Out of Limits" (1964) U.S. #3 written by Michael Z. Gordon, WB 5391,^[16]
• "Vanishing Point" (1964) U.S. #90 [[written by Michael Z. Gordon, WB 5423,^[17]
• "Batman Theme" (Neal Hefti) / "Ritchie's Theme" (produced by Dick Glasser, WB 5696, 1966) U.S. #17

See also[link]

Michael Z. Gordon Ernie Freeman

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ernie Freeman/The Marketts

Chris Ledoux (October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005) was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor and rodeo champion. During his career LeDoux recorded 36 albums (many self-released) which have sold more than six million units in the United States as of January 2007. He was awarded one gold album certification from the RIAA, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and the Academy of Country Music Music Pioneer Award.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

LeDoux was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. His father was in the US Air Force and was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base at the time of his birth. The family moved often when he was a child, due to his father's air force career. He learned to ride horses while visiting his grandparents on their Michigan farm.^[2] At age 13, LeDoux participated in his first rodeo, riding in Denison, Texas, and before long was winning junior rodeo competitions.^[3]

LeDoux continued to compete in rodeo events and played football through his high school years, with rodeos keeping most of his attention. When his family moved to Cheyenne, he attended Cheyenne Central High School. After twice winning the Wyoming State Rodeo Championship bareback riding title during high school, LeDoux earned a rodeo scholarship to Casper College in Casper. During his junior year, LeDoux won the Intercollegiate National bareback riding Championship.^[2]

LeDoux married Peggy Rhoads on January 4, 1972, and they had five children: Clay, Ned, Will, Cindy and Beau.

Rodeo success and music beginnings[link]

In 1970, LeDoux became a professional rodeo cowboy, competing on the national rodeo circuit.^[3] To help pay his expenses while traveling the country, he began composing songs describing his lifestyle.^[2] Within two years, he had written enough songs to make up an album, and soon established a recording company, American Cowboy Songs, with his father. After recording his songs in a friend's basement, LeDoux began selling his albums out of the back of his truck at rodeo events.^[3]

His years of hard work bore fruit in 1976, when LeDoux won the world bareback riding championship at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.^[3] Winning the championship gave LeDoux more credibility with music audiences, as he now had proof that the cowboy songs he wrote and sang were authentic.^[4] LeDoux continued competing for the next four years. He retired in 1980 to nurse injuries and to spend more time with his growing family.^[3]

Music career[link]

With his rodeo career ended, LeDoux and his family settled on a ranch in Kaycee, Wyoming. He continued to write and record his songs, and began playing concerts.^[3] His concerts were very popular, and often featured a mechanical bull (which he rode between songs) and fireworks.^[4] By 1982 he had sold over 250,000 copies of his albums, with little or no marketing. By the end of the decade he had self-released 22 albums.^[3]

Despite offers from various record labels, LeDoux had refused to sign a recording contract, instead choosing to retain his independence and total control over his work while enjoying his regional following. In 1989, however, he shot to national prominence when he was mentioned in the debut song of Garth Brooks' Top-10 country hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)." To capitalize on the sudden attention^{[citation needed]}, LeDoux signed a contract with Capitol Records subsidiary Liberty Records and released his first national album, Western Underground, in 1991. His follow-up album, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, was certified gold and reached the top ten. The title track, a duet with Brooks, became LeDoux's first and only Top Ten country single, reaching No. 7 in 1992.^[3] In concert, he ended the song by saying, "Thanks, Garth!"

For the next decade, LeDoux continued to record for Liberty. He released six additional records, one of which, 1998's One Road Man, made the country Top 40.^[3] Towards the end of his career, LeDoux began recording material written by other artists, which he attributed to the challenge of composing new lyrics.^[4] With his 2000 release, Cowboy, he returned to his roots, re-recording many of his earliest songwriting creations.^[3]

Illness and death[link]

In August 2000, LeDoux was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, which required him to receive a liver transplant. Garth Brooks volunteered to donate part of his liver, but it was found to be incompatible. An alternative donor was located, and LeDoux received a transplant on October 7, 2000.^[5] After his recovery he released two additional albums. In November 2004, LeDoux was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma and underwent radiation treatment for it until his death on March 9, 2005 of complications from the disease at a Casper, Wyoming hospital.^[3] He was survived by his wife of 33 years, Peggy,^[6] and their children Clay, Ned, Will, Beau, and Cindy, as well as his mother, Bonnie.^[7]

Tributes[link]

Shortly after his death, LeDoux was named as one of six former rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs in 2005. He was the first person to ever be inducted in two categories, for his bareback riding and in the "notables" category for his contributions to the sport through music.^[8]

Shortly thereafter, the Academy of Country Music awarded LeDoux their Pioneer Award during ceremonies in 2005. LeDoux's good friend Garth Brooks accepted the award on behalf of LeDoux's family.^[9]

In late 2005, Brooks briefly emerged from retirement to record "Good Ride Cowboy" as a tribute to LeDoux. Brooks remarked:^[10]

"I knew if I ever recorded any kind of tribute to Chris, it would have to be up-tempo, happy ... a song like him ... not some slow, mournful song. He wasn't like that. Chris was exactly as our heroes are supposed to be. He was a man's man. A good friend."

Garth Brooks performed the song on "The 39th Annual CMA Awards" on Nov. 15, 2005 live from Times Square in New York City. Later that evening, LeDoux was honored with the CMA Chairman's Award of Merit, presented by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, to LeDoux's family.

Friends have also collaborated to produce an annual rodeo, art show, and concert in Casper to honor LeDoux's memory. The art show features sculpture and sketches that LeDoux completed for friends; none of his works were ever exhibited before his death.^[6]

To mark the second anniversary of LeDoux's death, in April 2007 Capitol Records released a six-CD boxed set featuring remastered versions of 12 of the albums he recorded between 1974 and 1993.^[1]

Award-winning artist and sculptor D. Michael Thomas is creating a one-and-a-half times lifesize sculpture of Chris LeDoux during his 1976 World Championship ride on Stormy Weather. The statue, called "Good Ride Cowboy," will be displayed at the Chris LeDoux Memorial Park in his hometown of Kaycee, Wyoming.^[11]

On October 26, 2006 Chris LeDoux was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Son Beau LeDoux, himself a rodeo competitor, on July 24, 2007, spread his father's ashes over Frontier Park Arena during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo:^[12]

"It was something my family and I thought would be right to do because this was such a special rodeo to him. ... This has always been a special rodeo in my family. My dad rode here and came close to winning here a couple of times."

Additionally the city in which LeDoux attended college; Casper, Wyoming, celebrates his life and legacy each November with the Chris LeDoux Memorial Rodeo. A weekend event which includes an art show featuring a number of LeDoux's works, a PRCA rodeo and a country music concert.

In 2010, Robert Royston created "One Ride", a musical dance production. One Ride is a powerful music and dance production that tells the story of the Rodeo Cowboy. Inspired by and told through the music of Chris LeDoux, the show explores the passionate, yet humbling and often painful paths a cowboy follows in his quest to become a champion. One Ride will debut at Queen Theater in the Park on October 29 and continue through November 6. The goal is to pay tribute to Chris LeDoux by launching a national tour that will follow the rodeo circuit.

In 2011 country music artist Brantley Gilbert paid tribute to LeDoux in Gilbert's single "Country Must Be Countrywide," with the line "From his Wranglers to his boots - he reminded me of Chris LeDoux." ^[13]

Rodeo career milestones[link]

Discography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Seemann, Charlie. (1998). "Chris LeDoux". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 293.
• Brown, David G. (1987). "Gold Buckle Dreams: The Rodeo Life of Chris Ledoux". Wolverine Gallery

External links[link]

• The Official Chris LeDoux Website
• A popular Chris LeDoux Fansite
• Amazon.com: Gold Buckle Dreams: The Rodeo Life Story of Chris Ledoux
• The Musical Dance Production link