Jump to content

Jack Clement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the English rugby union player, see Jack Clement (rugby union).

Jack Clement
Clement in 1978
Clement in 1978
Background information
Birth nameJack Henderson Clement
Also known as"Cowboy" Jack Clement
Born(1931-04-05)April 5, 1931
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedAugust 8, 2013(2013-08-08) (aged 82)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
GenresRock and roll, country, folk, rockabilly
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, record producer
Years active1953–2013
LabelsSun, RCA, JMI Records, Mercury Records

Jack Henderson Clement (April 5, 1931[1] – August 8, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and record and film producer.[2] He was producer and engineer for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in its early days, and worked with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.

Biography

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Clement was born on April 5, 1931,[1] in the Whitehaven neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee.[3] He grew up and went to school in Memphis, learned guitar and was performing at an early age, playing guitar and dobro. In 1946 at the age of 15, he ran away from home.[4] In 1948, prior to pursuing a career in music, he commenced his service in the United States Marine Corps. While serving in Washington, D.C., Clement, fiddler Scotty Stoneman and mandolinist Buzz Busby formed the Tennessee Troupers, a bluegrass band.[5] In 1953 he made his first record for Sheraton Records in Boston. From 1953 to 1955 he studied at Memphis State University, where he gained the nickname "Cowboy". During his student days he played steel guitar with a local band, and he co-founded Fernwood publishing company with bandmate Slim Wallace in 1954.[2]

Clement's band recorded a demo in a home studio that Clement had built in his garage, and he took the record to Sun Records to be mastered. Upon hearing the demo Sam Philips wanted to meet and talk to Clement, and on June 15, 1956 hired Clement as a recording engineer and producer for Sun Records.[2]

Career

[edit]
Million Dollar Quartet session. L-R: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash

At Sun Records Clement began working with acts like Billy Lee Riley[3] before eventually working with Sun artists Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. He discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis while Phillips was on a trip to Florida,[4] with one of those recordings, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.[1] Clement was also the recording engineer present at Sun Studio during the famous December 4, 1956 "Million Dollar Quartet" session involving Cash, Lewis, Perkins and Elvis Presley. He made the decision to record the impromptu session.[4]

In 1957, Clement wrote Johnny Cash's crossover hit "Ballad of a Teenage Queen", and "Guess Things Happen That Way", which was No. 1 on the country chart and No. 11 on the pop chart for Cash the following year.[6] During this time in Memphis, Clement also wrote "It'll Be Me", recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1957 and covered by Cliff Richard and the Shadows in 1962. In 1958, Clement released the single "Ten Years",[7] which was later covered by Johnny Western (1959), Rex Allen (1962), and Roger Mews.

In 1959, he was hired by Chet Atkins to work as a producer at RCA Victor in Nashville, where he worked for the next year and a half, producing albums for Del Wood and others.[3]

In 1961, producer and publisher Bill Hall persuaded Clement to move to Beaumont, Texas. Together, Hall and Clement founded the Hall-Clement publishing company and Gulf Coast Recording Studios,[8] where Dickey Lee recorded the top 10 hit "Patches".[3] During this time, Clement worked with songwriters Allen Reynolds and Bob McDill, and persuaded George Jones to record Lee's song "She Thinks I Still Care", as well as Clement's own song "A Girl I Used to Know".[8] The latter was later recorded by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton (as "Just Someone I Used to Know"), and has gone on to become a Country standard.[6] Clement continued to work in Nashville, and contributed arranging, guitar playing, and production on Cash's No. 1 hit, "Ring of Fire" in 1963.[8][4][2] While in Beaumont, Clement worked with songwriters Allen Reynolds and Bob McDill, and persuaded George Jones to record Dickey Lee's "She Thinks I Still Care" and Clement's own "Just Someone I Used to Know".[2]

Clement returned to Nashville in 1965 and became a significant figure in the country music business. He established a publishing business and founded the Jack Clement Recording Studio (also known as The Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa),[9] where he produced projects for artists including Charley Pride and Ray Stevens.[1] In 1971 he co-founded JMI Records,[10] which launched the career of Don Williams.[11] Bill Hall took control of Hall-Clement in 1973 and sold it to the Welk Music Group in 1975.[12]

Clement wrote the comedic "The One on the Right Is on the Left", which was a No. 2 country and No. 46 pop hit for Johnny Cash in 1966.[1] He produced, and composed the horn intro for, Cash's No. 1 hit, "Ring of Fire" in 1963.[8]

Songs written by Clement were recorded by singing stars such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, Bobby Bare, Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Richard ("It'll Be Me"), Charley Pride, Tom Jones, Dickey Lee, Moon Mullican and Hank Snow.[1] Clement also produced albums by Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings.[1] He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame[8] in 1973.

Clement was involved in a few film projects as a singer or songwriter of soundtracks. He produced and part-financed the 1975 horror film, Dear Dead Delilah, which was a financial disaster and the last film performance by the actress Agnes Moorehead.[1]

In 1987, Clement was approached by Irish rock band U2 to record at Sun Studio in Memphis. He was not familiar with the band's music but agreed to arrange the session. The resulting work appeared on U2's next album, Rattle and Hum, ("When Love Comes to Town", with B.B. King; "Angel of Harlem", a tribute to Billie Holiday; and "Love Rescue Me", with backing vocals by Bob Dylan),[1] as well as the Woody Guthrie song "Jesus Christ", which was included on the 1988 album Folkways: A Vision Shared — A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. Extracts from the sessions appeared in the 1988 film Rattle and Hum.

In November 2003, Clement performed his song made famous by Johnny Cash, "Guess Things Happen That Way", on CMT's Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute.

Later life and death

[edit]

In 2005, a documentary about Clement, Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan, was created by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville. It was pieced together from Clement's home videos and interviews with peers, including Jerry Lee Lewis and Bono.

Clement hosted a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Music City Walk of Fame. On June 25, 2011, a fire destroyed his home and studio on Belmont Boulevard in Nashville.[13] Clement was unhurt, but many priceless recordings and memorabilia were lost. On April 10, 2013, it was announced he would be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.[8]

Clement died at his home in Nashville on August 8, 2013. He had suffered from liver cancer.[14] He had a daughter, Alison, also a singer and writer; and a son, Niles, an engineer and photographer.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 503/4. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Jack Clement Leads Varied Life In Music". Billboard. Vol. 84, no. 24. June 10, 1972. pp. JC-4.
  3. ^ a b c d Kosser, Michael (2006). How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: A History Of Music Row. Lanham, Maryland, US: Backbeat Books. pp. 110–119. ISBN 978-1-49306-512-7.
  4. ^ a b c d ""Cowboy" Jack Clement". Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
  5. ^ "Cowboy Jack Clement Biography". PBS. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Inductees: Jack Clement". Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. 1973. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  7. ^ Grevatt, Ben (June 2, 1958). "On The Beat". Billboard. p. 48. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Country Hall of Fame Elects Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare, Jack Clement". Cmt.com. April 10, 2013. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  9. ^ Havinghurst, Craig (March 1, 2019). "Cowboy Jack's Spa Of A Studio Is Back In The Family And Back In Operation". WMOT.org. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  10. ^ "Clements' JMI Records Turns Best Foot Forward". Billboard. Vol. 83, no. 47. November 20, 1971. p. 82.
  11. ^ Stambler and Landon, Irwin and Grelun (1997). Country Music: The Encyclopedia. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 539. ISBN 0312151217.
  12. ^ "Bill Hall". Museumofthegulfcoast.org. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  13. ^ "Music Row legend's home destroyed in fire - WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather and Sports |". Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  14. ^ Morris, Edward (August 8, 2013). "Cowboy Jack Clement, a Nashville Music Legend, Dies at Age 82". CMT. Archived from the original on September 8, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
[edit]
Awards
Preceded by AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting
2004 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_Clement&oldid=1237864908"