T. G. Sheppard
| T.G. Sheppard | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Neal Browder |
| Also known as | Brian Stacy |
| Born | July 20, 1944 |
| Origin | Humboldt, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Country, countrypolitan |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels |
Melodyland, Hitsville, Warner Bros. Records Curb Records Columbia Records |
| Associated acts | Mac Davis, Kenny Rogers, Larry Gatlin, Eddie Rabbitt, B.J. Thomas |
| Website | TG Sheppard Official Site |
William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944, Humboldt, Tennessee)[1]) is an American country music singer-songwriter, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 15 number one hits during the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Sheppard dropped out of high school and at the age of 15 he ran away from home to become involved in the music industry in Memphis, Tennessee.
Recording career
William Browder, as he was then known, first recorded for Atco Records as Brian Stacy in 1966.[1] Browder worked as an executive at RCA during the early 1970s, but in 1974, signed with Melodyland (later Hitsville) Records, a short-lived country label owned by Motown Records. He used the stage name T.G. Sheppard to avoid jeopardizing his job with RCA, due to his recording material with a different label. According to Browder, “The T.G. in my stage name is really and truly just initials. A lot of people through the years have had fun putting what they want the initials to stand for, but they really don’t mean anything, they are just initials." [2]
He recorded the song "Devil in the Bottle", which became a No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart and also became a Top 60 Pop hit in 1975. The follow-up, "Tryin' to Beat the Morning Home", also went to No. 1 and cracked the Top 100 during the summer of 1975. Several subsequent releases during 1975-77 made the Top 10 like "Motels and Memories" and "Show Me A Man".
In 1977, Sheppard signed with Warner Bros. Records. Starting with that summer's "When Can We Do This Again", he had a series of fifteen consecutive Top 10 releases, including 10 No. 1 songs. The biggest included "Last Cheater's Waltz" (1979); "I'll Be Coming Back for More" and "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven" (1980); "I Loved 'Em Every One" and "Party Time" (1981); "Only One You", "Finally", and "War is Hell (On the Homefront Too)" (1982). Another major hit came in 1984: "Slow Burn". "I Loved 'Em Every One" also reached the top forty on the U.S. pop singles chart. In 1984 he recorded, as a duet with Judy Collins, the title track of Home Again, her final album for Elektra Records.
In 1985, he moved from Warner Bros. to Columbia Records. After just missing the top 20 with "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (a remake of the Elvin Bishop hit), he returned to the top 10, with his biggest success during this time frame coming with 1986's "Strong Heart" (the last of his No. 1 hits, as it turned out). Three more songs peaked at No. 2 in 1987: "Half Past Forever (Till I'm Blue in the Heart)", "You're My First Lady", and "One for the Money".
Sheppard's success continued until about 1988, when rootsy neo-traditionalist artists began to eclipse more polished pop-country artists like Sheppard on the country charts. He continued to tour and play throughout the 1990s, but did not sign a new record contract, and did not release any new material until his 2002 live release, T.G. Sheppard: Live at Billy Bob's, which found Sheppard performing his classic hits for an enthusiastic crowd at the famed honky tonk in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1995, he took a two-year hiatus from the road to perform exclusively for eight months a year at T.G. Sheppard's Theater In The Smokies, a state-of-the-art theater in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. When the theater was sold in 1997, he returned to the road. Sheppard released Timeless in 2004, an album that had him singing songs from the big band era. In the mid to late 1980s he was an associate sponsor on the No. 25 Folgers Chevrolet driven on the Nascar Winston Cup circuit by Tim Richmond and Ken Schrader. In 1990 the Folgers sponsorship moved to Roush racing and driver Mark Martin.
T.G. Sheppard currently tours throughout the year and continues to release new albums.
Personal life
Sheppard is married to singer-songwriter, Kelly Lang, and resides in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Sheppard owned a small chain of now-defunct restaurants under the name of "T.G.'s North of the Border Cafe and Cantina." The restaurant had locations in Gatlinburg and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | |||
| 1975 | T.G. Sheppard | 12 | — | Melodyland |
| 1976 | Motels and Memories | 28 | — | |
| Solitary Man | 16 | — | Hitsville | |
| 1978 | T.G. | 42 | — | Warner/Curb |
| 1979 | Daylight | — | — | |
| 3/4 LonelyA | 4 | — | ||
| 1980 | Smooth Sailin' | 19 | — | |
| 1981 | I Love 'Em All | 7 | 119 | |
| 1982 | Finally! | 4 | 152 | |
| Perfect Stranger | 25 | — | ||
| 1983 | Greatest Hits | 5 | 189 | |
| Slow Burn | 17 | 204 | ||
| 1984 | One Owner Heart | 26 | — | |
| 1985 | Livin' on the Edge | 26 | — | Columbia |
| T.G. | 54 | — | Warner/Curb | |
| Greatest Hits 2 | — | — | ||
| 1986 | It Still Rains in Memphis | 26 | — | Columbia |
| 1987 | One for the Money | 47 | — | |
| 1988 | Biggest Hits | — | — | |
| Crossroads | — | — | ||
| 1997 | Nothin' on But the Radio | — | — | Outwest |
| 2002 | Live at Billy Bob's Texas | — | — | Smith Music |
| 2004 | Timeless | — | — | Aspirion Records |
| 2007 | Partners In Rhyme (2 CDs + DVD) | — | — | |
- A3/4 Lonely also peaked at No. 8 on the RPM Country Albums chart in Canada.
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | US AC | CAN Country | CAN AC | |||
| 1974 | "Devil in the Bottle" | 1 | 54 | — | 1 | — | T.G. Sheppard |
| 1975 | "Tryin' to Beat the Morning Home" | 1 | 95 | — | 2 | — | |
| "Another Woman" | 14 | — | — | 17 | — | ||
| "Motels and Memories" | 7 | 102 | — | 1 | — | Motels and Memories | |
| 1976 | "Solitary Man" | 14 | 100 | 29 | 11 | 24 | Solitary Man |
| "Show Me a Man" | 8 | — | — | 13 | — | ||
| 1977 | "May I Spend Every New Years with You" | 37 | — | — | — | — | N/A |
| "Lovin' On" | 20 | — | — | 18 | — | T.G. | |
| "Mister D.J." | 13 | — | — | 27 | — | ||
| 1978 | "Don't Ever Say Goodbye" | 13 | — | — | 18 | — | |
| "When Can We Do This Again" | 5 | — | — | 29 | — | Daylight | |
| "Daylight" | 7 | — | — | 9 | — | ||
| "Happy Together" | 8 | — | — | 6 | — | ||
| 1979 | "You Feel Good All Over" | 4 | — | — | 20 | — | 3/4 Lonely |
| "Last Cheater's Waltz" | 1 | — | — | 7 | — | ||
| "I'll Be Coming Back for More" | 1 | — | — | 23 | — | ||
| 1980 | "Smooth Sailin'" | 6 | — | — | 7 | — | Smooth Sailin' |
| "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven" | 1 | — | — | 15 | — | ||
| "I Feel Like Loving You Again" | 1 | — | — | 3 | — | ||
| 1981 | "I Loved 'Em Every One" | 1 | 37 | 3 | 3 | 8 | I Love 'Em All |
| "Party Time" | 1 | — | — | 2 | — | ||
| "Only One You" | 1 | 68 | 20 | 1 | — | Finally! | |
| 1982 | "Finally" | 1 | 58 | 17 | 10 | — | |
| "War Is Hell (On the Homefront Too)" | 1 | — | — | 5 | — | Perfect Stranger | |
| "Faking Love" (with Karen Brooks) | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | ||
| 1983 | "Without You" | 12 | — | — | 10 | — | Greatest Hits |
| "Slow Burn" | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | Slow Burn | |
| 1984 | "Make My Day" (with Clint Eastwood) | 12 | 62 | 36 | 11 | — | |
| "Somewhere Down the Line" | 3 | — | — | 5 | — | ||
| "Home Again" (with Judy Collins) | 57 | — | 42 | — | — | One Owner Heart | |
| "One Owner Heart" | 4 | — | — | 3 | — | ||
| 1985 | "You're Going Out of My Mind" | 10 | — | — | 8 | — | |
| "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" | 21 | — | — | 34 | — | Livin' on the Edge | |
| "Doncha?" | 8 | — | — | 5 | — | ||
| "In Over My Heart" | 9 | — | — | 28 | — | ||
| 1986 | "Strong Heart" | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | It Still Rains in Memphis |
| "Half Past Forever (Till I'm Blue in the Heart)" | 2 | — | — | 3 | — | ||
| 1987 | "You're My First Lady" | 2 | — | — | 5 | — | |
| "One for the Money" | 2 | — | — | 2 | — | One for the Money | |
| 1988 | "Don't Say It with Diamonds" | 48 | — | — | 63 | — | Crossroads |
| "You Still Do" | 14 | — | — | * | — | ||
| 1991 | "Born in a High Wind" | 63 | — | — | — | — | N/A |
| "It's One A.M. (Do You Know Where Your Memories Are)"[3] | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1992 | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You"[4] | — | — | — | — | — | The Best of T. G. Sheppard |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||
References
- 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. pp. 379–380. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
- ↑ http://www.ourbrowncounty.com/0302s6.htm
- ↑ "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. September 7, 1991.
- ↑ "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. February 29, 1992.