The music industry just lost a legend. Noted producer/label owner Shelby Singleton is dead at 77 of brain cancer. We were great friends and he was my old boss at Mercury Records. Shelby had been suffering just a short time and it was kept under wraps. We spoke with his sons about 10 days ago and they told us of the illness, even though Shelby was still working every day. Nobody expected him to go so quickly but he had a seizure of some sort and never came out of it. Shelby Singleton was a true renegade who never cared what Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, or any of the other established producers were doing. He always did it his way and the results were fabulous. Brother John Singleton and son Sidney still work in executive positions at the Sun Records office. Steve is employed at BMI. John Singleton will take over leadership of the company. It is definitely a music family.

Shelby’s idol was the late record mogul Don Pierce, owner of Starday Records. Don was my boss at Starday. Having those two guys as teachers is a true blessing. They were both alike; never afraid to take chances and neither feared the Nashville establishment. Shelby brought me to Nashville in the fall of 1964 to National Promotion Director at Mercury Records’ country division. The job was short lived because Shelby was having an ongoing battle with the Chicago main office. I was the guy in the middle then took a job offer from Don Pierce. The job at Starday was wonderful. We were the largest independent manufacturer of country/bluegrass and gospel records in the country.

Singleton brought many guys to Nashville, among them were Jerry Reed, Ray Stevens, guitar whiz Jerry Kennedy and many others. Can you imagine a producer cutting three #1 records in the same day with three different artists? Shelby did it with Ray Stevens, Leroy VanDyke and Joe Dowell. Shelby was the guy who took a chance on Roger Miller after RCA struck out. His first record with Shelby was “Dang Me” followed by “England Swings”, etc.  He also recorded on his Plantation Records label, “Harper Valley PTA” Who can forget his R&B hits of “Wild Mountain Berries” and “Reconsider Me”?  Through all these hits, Jerry Kennedy was Shelby’s able assistant. Shelby brought then-young Kennedy to Nashville from Shreveport. You can hear his hot guitar licks on practically all of Shelby’s hits. His guitar work on VanDyke’s “Walk On By” and Roger Miller’s “Dang Me” are simply classic. There was a gathering of friends and employees last Friday evening and it was great seeing all the folks that had involvement with Shelby. His funeral Saturday afternoon was wonderful. Shelby filled the house.