Country musician Jerry REED dies
Brentwood (TN) -
Sunday night (Monday in Europe) award-winning country singer and guitarist Jerry REED (1937-2008) died.
Jerry Reed Hubbard was born on 20 March 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents split shortly after his birth and he spent seven years in foster care, but was reunited with his mother when she remarried in 1944.
He began playing guitar as a child and by 16 his fast, finger-picking guitar playing had developed to the stage where he was signed by Capitol Records.
Lack of success drove him to Nashville in 1961 to become one of the in-demand session and tour guitarists.
Elvis Presley recorded two songs by Jerry Reed: Guitar Man (1967) and U.S. Male (1968). As he wanted the original Reed guitar sound Presley asked Reed to play at the recording sessions. One year later (in 1969) Reed recorded one of his biggest successes, Amos Moses.
In the late '70s Reed tried his luck as an actor. In the first of the Smokey and the Bandit movie he played 'Snowman', a trucker who is hired by Bo 'Bandit' Darville to help him smuggle a truckload of beer across statelines. By the third Smokey film (1983), Reed had succeeded Burt Reynolds as 'The Bandit'.
His recording career underwent a renaissance in the early '80s with hits like She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft) and The Bird, but it was short-lived and he last appeared in the country charts in 1983.
Jerry Reed reached the age of 71.
Obituary
Laatste aanpassing op Thursday 4 September 2008
