Biography

Childhood and military service

Hart was born to a sharecropper family in Loachapoka, Alabama in 1926 and spent his childhood in nearby Phenix City, Alabama along with his 11 siblings (Nadine, Bo, Junior, Olin, Marrell, Pearl, Lonnie, Sandra, Gail, ,J.P., Harold, and a child who died at infancy).. He learned to play guitar at age 5 and quit school by age 12. At age 15, Hart lied about his age to join the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, seeing combat action on Guam and Iwo Jima. Following the war, Hart lived in California where he taught classes in self-defense at the Los Angeles Police Academy.

Early career

Hart got an early career break when singer Carl Smith covered Hart's song "Loose Talk" in 1955. Other artists who recorded his songs included Patsy Cline ("Lovin' In Vain"), George Jones ("My Tears are Overdue") and Porter Wagoner ("Skid Row Joe").

During the early 1950s, Hart and his family moved to California to further the growing country music scene there. In 1951, he joined Lefty Frizzell's band for a year. It was through Frizzell that Hart got his first recording contract with Capitol Records in 1953. He released several singles including his version of "Loose Talk", but none of these were successful. In 1958, Hart signed with Columbia Records and scored his first chart hit with "The Wall" in 1959 which made the Top 20. His biggest hit for the label was the 1960 Top 20 hit "The Key's In The Mailbox".

In 1965, Hart signed with Kapp Records where he would score several Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1968. The biggest of these hits included "Hank Williams' Guitar" (1965), "Born A Fool" (1968) and "Togetherness" (1968).

Re-signing with Capitol Records and Easy Loving

In 1969, Hart re-signed with Capitol Records and soon became a part of the Bakersfield sound by signing up with Buck Owens' songwriting and management company. In early 1970, he scored a Top 30 hit with "The Whole World's Holdin' Hands". Hart's song "Togetherness", a hit for him in 1968, became a Top 15 hit for Buck Owens and Susan Raye that summer. Hart would score several minor hits during the year.

In 1971, Hart released a song that he wrote called "Easy Loving" which was first recorded in the summer of 1969 for his album California Grapevine, released in 1970. Released in the summer of 1971, "Easy Loving" rapidly began climbing the charts; and by that September, it was No. 1 for three weeks on the country charts and reached No. 17 on the pop charts. It was also played on adult contemporary stations, earning a position on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. The song would ultimately win Hart numerous awards from both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association. The song sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record by the R.I.A.A. in November 1971. The album of the same name also reportedly went gold. The song also won a Grammy Award for Hart.

From this success, Hart and his backup band, the Heartbeats, had a string of Top 5 hits with "My Hang-Up Is You" (six weeks at No. 1 in 1972), "Bless Your Heart" (No. 1 in 1972), "Got the All Overs For You (All Over Me)" (No. 1 in 1972), "If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)" (1973), "Super Kind of Woman" (No. 1 in 1973), "Trip to Heaven" (No. 1 in 1973), "Hang In There Girl" (1974), "The Want-To's" (1974), "My Woman's Man" (1975), "The First Time" (1975), "I'd Like To Sleep Till I Get Over You" (1975) and "The Warm Side of You" (1975). He has been called by many fans as "The Heart and Soul of Country Music".

With the success of "Easy Loving" and other songs he wrote, plus a popular concert attraction on the road, Hart became independently wealthy and owned a songwriting company, a school for the blind, a trucking company, and a chain of martial arts studios—his hobby was as a master of karate.

Late 1970s-80s

By 1976, Hart continued to have major hits although now his streak of Top 10s were replaced by a streak of Top 20 and Top 30 hits. These included "You Are The Song Inside Of Me" (1976), "That Look In Her Eyes" (1976), "Thank God She's Mine" (1977), "The Pleasure's Been All Mine" (1977), "Toe to Toe" (1978), and "Wasn't It Easy Baby" (1979). His last Top 10 hit came with the hit "Why Lovers Turn to Strangers" in 1977, which peaked at No. 8. This song was written by east Idaho based composer Bobby Fender.

In 1980, Hart signed with Sunbird Records, and immediately scored a Top 20 hit with "Sure Thing" that year. He followed this up with 3 Top 40 hits in 1981. This ended his days as a major country artist. In 1985 and 1987, he had a couple of minor hits on El Dorado and 5th Avenue Records, with his last hit being "The Best Love I Ever Had" in 1987 peaking at No. 77.

2000s-present

In 2001, Hart was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. A few years later, Phenix City declared a major east-west street Freddie Hart Parkway in his honor.

Hart released a handful of new albums on CD, showcasing his passion for gospel music, patriotism and the traditional country sound that originally made him famous. These albums prompted him to selectively tour and perform concerts around the world. Hart retains a large following in Europe and the U.S., where he continues to perform at music festivals, universities, churches and industry events.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions		RIAA	Label
1962	The Spirited Freddie Hart				Columbia
1966	The Hart of Country Music	19			Kapp
	Straight from the Heart
1967	A Hurtin' Man
	The Neon and the Rain
1968	Togetherness	32
	Born a Fool	35
1969	Greatest Hits
1970	New Sounds				Capitol
1971	California Grapevine	23
	Easy LovingA	1	37	Gold
1972	My Hang-Up Is You	2	89
	Bless Your Heart	3	93
	The World of Freddie Hart	37			Columbia
1972	Got the All Overs for You	1			Capitol
1973	Super Kind of Woman	1
	Trip to Heaven	5	188
	If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)	8
1974	Hang in there Girl	6
	Country Heart 'N Soul	14
1975	Freddie Hart's Greatest Hits	9
	Presents the Heartbeats
	The First Time	14
1976	People Put to Music	20
	That Look in Her Eyes	44
1977	The Pleasure's Been All Mine	44
1978	Only You
1979	My Lady
1980	A Sure Thing	52			Sunbird

• AEasy Loving also peaked at No. 67 on the RPM Top Albums chart.

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
1953	"Butterfly Love"			singles only
	"My Heart Is a Play Ground"
1954	"Loose Talk"
	"Caught at Last"
	"Please Don't Tell Her"
1955	"Miss Lonely Heart"
	"No Thanks to You"
	"Hiding in the Darkness"
1956	"Dig Boy Dig"
	"Snatch It and Grab It"
	"Drink Up and Go Home"			The Spirited Freddie Hart
1957	"On the Prowl"			single only
	"Fraulein"			The Spirited Freddie Hart
	"Say No More"			singles only
	"Heaven Only Knows"
1958	"I Won't Be Home Tonight"
	"I'm No Angel"			The Spirited Freddie Hart
1959	"The Wall"	24
	"Chain Gang"	17
1960	"The Key's in the Mailbox"	18
1961	"Lying Again"	27		single only
	"What a Laugh!"	23		The Spirited Freddie Hart
1962	"Like You Are"			singles only
	"Stand Up"
1963	"I'll Hit It with a Stick"
	"Angels Like You"
	"For a Second Time"
1964	"First You Go Through Me"
	"Hurt Feels So Good"			The Hart of Country Music
1965	"You've Got It Coming to You"
	"Hank Williams' Guitar"	23
1966	"Why Should I Cry Over You"	45
	"Together Again"			Straight from the Heart
	"Misty Blue"			A Hurtin' Man
1967	"I'll Hold You in My Heart"	63
	"Neon and the Rain"			The Neon and the Rain
1968	"Togetherness"	24	13	Togetherness
	"Born a Fool"	21	8	Born a Fool
	"Don't Cry Baby"	70		singles only
1969	"Why Leave Something I Can't Use"
	"I Lost All My Tomorrows"
1970	"The Whole World Holding Hands"	27		New Sounds
	"One More Mountain to Climb"	48
	"Fingerprints"	41
	"California Grapevine"	68		California Grapevine
1971	"Easy Loving"	1	1	Easy Loving
1972	"My Hang-Up Is You"	1	1	My Hang-Up Is You
	"Bless Your Heart"	1	4	Bless Your Heart
	"Got the All Overs for You (All Over Me)"	1	1	Got the All Overs for You
1973	"Super Kind of Woman"	1	1	Super Kind of Woman
	"Born a Fool"	41	32	Born a Fool
	"Trip to Heaven"	1	1	Trip to Heaven
	"If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)"	3	5	If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)
1974	"Hang in There Girl"	2		Hang in there Girl
	"The Want-To's"	3	3
	"My Woman's Man"	3	2	Country Heart 'N Soul
1975	"I'd Like to Sleep Til I Get Over You"	5	20
	"The First Time"	2	1	The First Time
	"Warm Side of You"	6	3
1976	"You Are the Song (Inside of Me)"	11	1
	"She'll Throw Stones at You"	12	6	People Put to Music
	"That Look in Her Eyes"	11		That Look in Her Eyes
1977	"Why Lovers Turn to Strangers"	8	3
	"Thank God She's Mine"	11	4	The Pleasure's Been All Mine
	"The Pleasure's Been All Mine"	13	23
	"It's Heaven Loving You"	flip
	"The Search"	43
1978	"So Good, So Rare, So Fine"	27	32	Only You
	"Only You"	34
	"Toe to Toe"	21	35	My Lady
1979	"My Lady"	40	53
	"Wasn't It Easy Baby"	28	57
1980	"Sure Thing"	15		A Sure Thing
	"Roses Are Red"	33
1981	"You're Crazy Man"	31
	"You Were There"	38		singles only
1985	"I Don't Want to Lose You"	81
1987	"Best Love I Never Had"	77

• A"Easy Loving" also peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 31 on the Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 21 on the RPM Top Singles chart.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award Ceremony	Award	Won / Nominated
1971	Country Music Association	Song of the Year - "Easy Loving"	Won
1971	Country Music Association	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
1971	Country Music Association	Album of the Year - Easy Loving	Nominated
1971	Country Music Association	Single of the Year - "Easy Loving"	Nominated
1971	Academy of Country Music	Song of the Year - "Easy Loving"	Won
1971	Academy of Country Music	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
1972	Grammy	Best Country Male Vocalist - "Easy Loving"	Won
1972	Country Music Association	Song of the Year: "Easy Loving"	Won
1972	Academy of Country Music	Album of the Year - Easy Loving	Nominated
1972	Academy of Country Music	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
1972	Country Music Association	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
1973	Academy of Country Music	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
1974	Academy of Country Music	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated

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[ Source: Wikipedia ]