Born: August 5, 1940 in Lakeland, FL
Currently resides in Nashville, TN
Bobby Braddock is a native son of
Auburndale, Florida having graduated from Auburndale High School
in 1958, and then attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland
during 1961-62. He is a fourth generation Floridian born to parents, Paul E. and Lavonia Valentine Braddock. His
father was a successful citrus grower in Central Florida.
Bobby was 8 years old and taking piano
lessons when he wrote his first song. He then performed that
song in a recital. He later played saxophone in the Auburndale
High School Band.
The first recording of one of Bobby's songs,
was one he produced in 1961, on D.J. Records, an independent
record label that operated out of Auburndale, Florida. The
song was "Walkin' Papers" and the artist was Dot Anderson,
who was the wife of Jody Anderson-- the president of the
D.J. label.
In
1962, Bobby produced the second of his songs to be recorded "That's
When I Stopped Living"b/w pop culture favorite "Fallout
Shelter", also for D.J. Records. This one featured
vocalist and friend, Billy Chambers. The recording was made
in Lakeland, Florida at the Tuesday Music Club by engineer
Ernie Garrison. The players on the session were Bobby on
piano, Carl Chambers on electric guitar, Gene Voss on rhythm
guitar, Glen Voss on acoustic bass, Tommy Grimes on drums
and a host of back-up singers from Florida Southern College.
Bobby played piano in several rock and
roll bands locally and around the state, including Jumpin'
James Jolly, the Dynamics, the Starfires, and throughout
the southeast with Big John Taylor's Untouchables before
moving to Nashville in September of 1964.
After moving to Nashville, Bobby landed
a job at Hewgley’s Music Store, but was later fired
when he got his apron caught in the trumpet-polishing machine.
It wasn't long though, before he was offered a gig playing
piano in Marty Robbins' tour band and in 1966, Robbins had
chart success singing Braddock's song, "While You're Dancing." Bobby
also appeared in a couple of Country
Music movies during the mid-60s and worked around town
as a session player before signing with Tree International
(now Sony/ATV) as a staff songwriter.
Bobby
began recording his own songs in 1967 and had some chart
success with his second single, "I Know How to Do it," which
made it to the Top 75. That year the Oak Ridge Boys reached
the Top Ten with his "Would They Love Him Down in Shreveport" after
which he provided the Statler Brothers with two Top Ten hits,
including "You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too." Braddock
scored his first number one hit when Tammy Wynette sang "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," a
song he co-wrote with Curly Putnam. He continued to steadily
create hits through the 1970's, including: "I Believe the
South's Gonna Rise Again," which became a big hit for Tanya
Tucker, "Come on In" (1976), which provided Sonny James,
Jerry Lee Lewis and later the Oak Ridge Boys with hits; "Something
to Brag About" (1978) for Mary Kay Place and Willie Nelson;
and "Womanhood," which was a number three hit for Wynette.
In
1979, Braddock signed to Elektra and scored a Top 60 hit
with the title track of his 1979 album Between the Lines.
He continued writing hits for other artists through the early
'80s; among them was the song that restored the flagging
career of George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which
he co-wrote with Putnam. In 1980, Braddock again appeared
on the charts with a cut from his second Elektra album Love
Bomb.
Bobby was inducted as the youngest living
member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981. "He Stopped
Loving Her Today" won the CMA Song of the Year Award two
years in a row. This was only the second time in CMA history
that a song won in this category for a second consecutive
year. That song was voted "All Time Favorite Country Song" by
the readers of Country America Magazine as well as
the listeners of the BBC in England. It also was named by
music industry executives in an R&R poll as Country
Song of The Century. In an interview with Music Row Magazine Bobby
spoke of that song, “I still feel like I’ve written
better songs, and so has Curly Putman. I honestly think it
was just a great recording. Curly says I brought in the idea,
but we worked on it, and we thought of it as a dark comedy,
really. Two years later when Billy Sherrill recorded it on
George Jones, he had us add a verse on to it, and we wrote
I don’t know how many till we got one he liked. It was
a long process.”
Though his career waned a bit during the
mid-'80s, Braddock wrote several big hits during the 1990s,
including "Time Marches On" and "Texas Tornado" for Tracy
Lawrence and "Old Flames Have New Names" for Mark Chesnutt.
Bobby estimates that he's written around
1,200 songs, has had around 80 songs make it on to the charts,
maybe 35 or 36 "Top 10" hits, and approximately
13 or 14 "Number 1's".
From the 1960's through the 1980's, Bobby
was a recording artist for five major labels: MGM, Columbia,
Mercury, Elektra, and RCA. Some of his biggest musical influences
have been Hank Williams, Ray Charles, and The Beatles. He
likes all kinds of music and loves to read, especially history.
Bobby
once again scored the number one position on the Billboard
Country Music charts in August 2001, but this time, it was
not as a songwriter, but as the producer of country music
newcomer, Blake Shelton. Both the single single, "Austin" and
self titled album were enormous successes. The single soared
to the #1 spot on the chart where it remained for a total
of five weeks. The song, "Austin", although not
penned by Braddock, also set several milestones for the charts,
the artist and the writers.
Before the dust had settled around "Austin",
Bobby hit the charts again with Toby Keith's release of his
song, "I Wanna Talk About Me". The song remained
#1 on Billboard's Top Country Hits chart for 5 consecutive
weeks.
Bobby's daughter, Lauren, is an actress,
singer, and songwriter who also lives in Nashville.
Bobby's latest endeavor is his autobiographical "Down On Orburndale: A Songwriters Youth in Old Florida" from LSU Press. Released March 13, 2007, the book is a must read for Florida crackers, locals, music fans, and anyone interested in the Americana of old Florida during the pre-Disney era. If your not already a big fan - you will be.
Awards:
1977--BMI\Citations
of Achievement\Golden Ring\Thinkin' of a Rendezvous\Her
Name Is...\Peanuts and Diamonds 1980--Country Music Association\Song of the Year\He
Stopped Loving Her Today 1981--Country Music Association\Song of the
Year\He Stopped Loving Her Today 1981--Academy of Country Music\Song
of the Year\He Stopped Loving Her Today 1981--Music City News\Songwriter
of the Year 1981--Nashville Songwriters
Association\Song of the Year\He
Stopped Loving Her Today
Catalog
Highlights:
D-I-V-O-R-C-E Co-writer:
Curly Putman Artists: Tammy Wynette
(1968), Billy Connolly (1975) Did You Ever Artists: Charlie
Louvin and Melba Montgomery (1971),
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood
(1971) Golden Ring Co-writer:
Rafe Van Hoy Artists: George
Jones and Tammy Wynette (1976) Her Name Is... Artists:
George Jones (1976) Thinkin' of a Rendezvous Co-writer:
Sonny Throckmorton
Artists: Johnny Duncan
(1976) Womanhood Artists:
Tammy Wynette (1978) He Stopped Loving Her
Today Co-writer: Curly
Putman Artists: George
Jones (1980), Johnny Russell Hard Times Artists:
Lacy J. Dalton (1980) I Feel Like Loving You
Again Co-writer: Sonny
Throckmorton Artists: T.G.
Sheppard (1980) Would You Catch a Falling
Star Artists: Jon Anderson
(1982) Faking Love Co-writer:
Matraca Berg Artists: T.G.
Sheppard and Karen Brooks
(1982) Old Flames Have New
Names Co-writer: Rafe
Van Hoy Artists: Mark Chesnutt
(1992) They Call It Making
Love Artists: Tammy
Wynette (1979) Fadin' In, Fadin' Out Co-writer:
Sonny Throckmorton Artists:
Tommy Overstreet (1978) Something to Brag About Artists:
Mary Kay Place with Willie
Nelson (1978) Nothing Ever Hurt Me
(Half As Bad as Losing
You) Artists: George
Jones (1973) I Believe the South
Is Gonna Rise Again Artists:
Tanya Tucker (1975) I Wanna Talk About Me Artist:
Toby Keith (2001) Come On In Artists:
Jerry Lee Lewis (1978) Ruthless Artists:
Statler Brothers (1967) Country Music Lover Co-writer:
Sonny Throckmorton Artists: "Little" Jimmy
Dickens (1967) Peanuts and Diamonds Artists:
Bill Anderson (1976) Texas Tornado Artists:
Tracy Lawrence (1995) Time Marches On Artists:
Tracy Lawrence (1996)
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.
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Features: PolKats - Class of the Sixties 
Bobby
began recording his own songs in 1967 and had some chart
success with his second single, "I Know How to Do it," which
made it to the Top 75. That year the Oak Ridge Boys reached
the Top Ten with his "Would They Love Him Down in Shreveport" after
which he provided the Statler Brothers with two Top Ten hits,
including "You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too." Braddock
scored his first number one hit when Tammy Wynette sang "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," a
song he co-wrote with Curly Putnam. He continued to steadily
create hits through the 1970's, including: "I Believe the
South's Gonna Rise Again," which became a big hit for Tanya
Tucker, "Come on In" (1976), which provided Sonny James,
Jerry Lee Lewis and later the Oak Ridge Boys with hits; "Something
to Brag About" (1978) for Mary Kay Place and Willie Nelson;
and "Womanhood," which was a number three hit for Wynette.
In
1979, Braddock signed to Elektra and scored a Top 60 hit
with the title track of his 1979 album Between the Lines.
He continued writing hits for other artists through the early
'80s; among them was the song that restored the flagging
career of George Jones, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which
he co-wrote with Putnam. In 1980, Braddock again appeared
on the charts with a cut from his second Elektra album Love
Bomb.
Bobby
once again scored the number one position on the Billboard
Country Music charts in August 2001, but this time, it was
not as a songwriter, but as the producer of country music
newcomer, Blake Shelton. Both the single single, "Austin" and
self titled album were enormous successes. The single soared
to the #1 spot on the chart where it remained for a total
of five weeks. The song, "Austin", although not
penned by Braddock, also set several milestones for the charts,
the artist and the writers.
Awards:
