VERN GOSDINVern Gosdin, who died on 28 April, 2009, aged 74, was a successful country music singer of the 1970s and ’80s.
Known as ‘The Voice’, he was acclaimed for his soulful vocals on a string of country hits, including three number one singles and other top10 hits.
He was born on 5 August, 1934, in Woodland, Alabama, and idolised country gospel groups when growing up.
In 1961 he moved to California and performed with several West Coast groups before forming The Gosdin Brothers with his brother Rex. They reached the charts in 1967 with Hangin' On and Till The End.
In the ’70s he gave up music and went into the glass business, but in 1976 he returned to recording when he and Emmylou Harris re-recorded Hangin' On, reaching number 16. He began collaborating with songwriter Max D Barnes, specialising in honky tonk bar room melodramas.
He recorded for various labels over the next decade and a half, his most successful album being Chiseled in Stone (1988) which peaked at number seven in the country album chart and spawned the hit singles Do You Believe Me Now, Chiseled in Stone, Set 'em Up Joe and Who You Gonna Blame It on This Time?
He recorded his last album, Nickles, Dimes and Love, in 1993 but in 2008 released a retrospective collection called 40 Years of The Voice which also included 14 new tracks.
Vern Gosdin died in Nashville shortly after a stroke.
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