Wagoner, Porter Wayne

▪ 2008

      American singer

born Aug. 12, 1927, near West Plains, Mo.

died Oct. 28, 2007, Nashville, Tenn.

was noted for his flashy rhinestone suits and showy white hairdo as a star of the Grand Ole Opry and was credited with helping to launch the career of Dolly Parton, with whom he recorded 14 songs that reached the top 10. Wagoner, who placed 81 singles on the country music charts, had his first hit in 1954 with “Company's Comin'.” The following year “A Satisfied Mind” reached the number one spot. He was a cast member (1955–56) of the television show Ozark Jubilee before moving to Nashville, where in 1957 he joined the Opry. In 1960 he became the host of his own television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, which ran for 21 years and at its peak of popularity reached more than three million viewers. Wagoner hit the charts regularly throughout the 1960s with songs that included “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Misery Loves Company,” and “Sorrow on the Rocks.” During that decade he won three Grammy Awards for gospel music he recorded with the Blackwood Brothers Quartet. Wagoner's concept albums, such as the prison-themed Soul of a Convict (1967), were among the first in the country music genre. Though he toured and recorded less often in recent years, in 2007 he released the critically acclaimed album Wagonmaster. Wagoner was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002,

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