music
Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves was born a farm boy from East Texas on 20 August 1923. his father had died when Jim was just a few months old, leaving his mother to raise him along with eight brothers and sisters. Not a great start in life, but James Travis Reeves had talent to spare. If he hadn't become one of the worlds most popular country & gospel singers, odds are that he'd have made it in some other profession but thankfully music was his way.
During 1950, he released a couple of records on a minor label but his career went into overdrive when he was signed by RCA's Steve Sholes, the man who signed Elvis Presley, a phenomenon that was destined to influence the rest of the world.
His voice became ever smoother, more relaxed, and the songs became increasingly pop-friendly as the man known as Gentleman Jim began reaching out to a now universal audience.
Virtually everything he released charted immediately. Tours of Europe, Australia and South Africaproved to be record breaking affairs, Jim becoming a film-star in South Africa where he headlined in the musical comedy 'Kimberley Jim'. Hardly surprising in a country where 13 of his releases once appeared in the Top 20 simultaneously!
On 31 July that year, Jim was killed when his light aircraft crashed in woodland just outside Nashville. If the death of Jim Reeves closed one chapter, it prefaced something even more spectacular in terms of record sales. His rich voice brought millions of new fans to country and gospel music from every corner of the world. Although the crash of his private airplane in 1964 took his life...posterity will keep his name alive.