Country music singer-songwriter, musician and record producer born Wayne Carson Head in Denver, Colorado, who moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1962. His parents Odie and Olivia were professional musicians who used the name Thompson as a stage name and Wayne was also credited as Wayne Carson Thompson on occasion.
In 1966 Eddy Arnold recorded one of his songs, “Somebody Like Me”, giving Wayne his first of twenty chart-topping hits. The next year, The Box Tops would turn “The Letter” into a multi-platinum-selling, international hit, topping the Billboard pop chart for over a month, and peaking at No. 5 in the U.K. Joe Cocker recorded a now-famous cover version in 1970 and took it to No. 7.
The Box Tops’ last top-forty entry was the Carson-penned “Soul Deep”, covered by Eddy Arnold in 1970, Lisa Burns on her self-titled 1978 debut, and Ike & Tina Turner. In 1977, outlaw country singer Johnny Paycheck hit the top ten with Carson’s “Slide Off Your Satin Sheets”, from the album of the same name.
Five years later saw Wayne’s biggest success, when Willie Nelson covered “Always On My Mind”, co-written with John Christopher and Mark James. The song went to No. 1 and won two Grammys, as well as ACM’s Single of the Year and CMA’s Song of the Year.
In 1997, Wayne Carson Thompson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. All totaled, his records sold over 75 million copies, his songs have appeared on over two hundred albums, and five of those albums have gone platinum.
He released a CD entitled Writer, which was his first release in over a quarter century. It features his own delivery of some of his greatest hits.
After having from several health problems that included congestive heart failure, he passed away in Nashville in July 2015 when he was 72 years old.
John Wesley Ryles recordings
Liberated Woman (Wayne Carson)
You Are Always On My Mind (Wayne Carson/John Christopher/Mark James)
Sources:
- http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2015/07/20/wayne-carson-dies/30422979/
- http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/carsonw.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Carson
- http://www.waynecarson.com/
- http://cdbaby.com/cd/waynecarson
- http://boxtops.com/45ltr.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Tops
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Letter_%28song%29
- http://www.mp3.com/artist/johnny-paycheck/summary/