Billy Craddock

Billy Wayne "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939 in Greensboro , North Carolina ) is an American country and rock'n'roll musician. After a series of rockabilly hits in Australia , he was able to establish himself as a successful country musician from 1971.

Life

Childhood and youth

Craddock is a cousin of rockabilly musician Gene Vincent and was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He learned to play the guitar at age six and won a talent contest on local television at age eleven. He was nicknamed "Crash" by his football team in high school. Musical influences were mainly country stars such as Hank Williams , Little Jimmy Dickens and Ray Price .

Rockabilly career

After high school, Craddock formed his first band, the Four Rebels , who played primarily rockabilly . In 1957 he made his first recordings for the small label Sky Castle Records and released the single Smacky-Mouth / How Does It Feel . Birddoggin '/ Millionaire for Colonial Records followed in the same year . Both singles missed the charts.

Shortly thereafter, Craddock was signed by Columbia Records , who sold him as a "Teenage Idol" in order to be able to offer something to rival RCA Victor against Elvis Presley . Craddock's first single Ah, Poor Little Baby / Lulu Lee , was released on Columbia's sub-label Date Records, but did not make it into the charts again. At the beginning of 1959, Am I to Be the One / I Miss You So Much came on the market, but it wasn't until Don't Destroy Me from autumn 1959 that it was able to place itself at the bottom of the charts. However, the A-side of that single, Boom Boom Baby , became a number one hit in Australia. When Craddock toured Australia with Bobby Rydell , the Everly Brothers , Santo and Johnny and the Diamonds , he was surprised to see a crowd of screaming youngsters at the airport, not knowing that he was even at the top of the Australian charts. Two more hits followed in Australia and Craddock became the idol of the youth there.

1961 moved Craddock for two singles to Mercury Records , then to King Records from Cincinnati . In addition to a few singles, he also recorded the album I'm Tore Up for King . But there were no more hits in the States.

Success as a country singer

For the next few years, Craddock disappeared from the record business for some time and worked, among other things, in a cigarette factory. Between 1966 and 1967 he recorded a few minor singles for Chart Records .

It wasn't until 1971 that the company wanted to achieve success. With a new contract with Cartwheel Records and a switch to country music, Knock Three Times immediately made it to number three on the Billboard country charts . The next five singles for Cartwheel also made it into the top 5 of the country charts, whereupon ABC Records took over Craddock's contract. He had his first hit there in 1973 with Don't Be Angry (# 33) and a year later he had his first number one hit in the country charts with Rub It In . Two more top positions were to follow with Ruby Baby (1974) and Broken Down in Tiny Pieces (1976). Craddock had established himself in the country scene and between 1971 and 1979 had a total of 18 hits in the top 10 with his sound influenced by pop and rock . Other hits included Still Thinkin 'Bout You , Easy As Pie and Tear Fell .

In 1977 Craddock moved to Capitol Records , where he had his last big hit in 1979 with If I Could Write a Song As Beautiful As You . Craddock was last placed in the chart in 1989. Craddock still performs today and is particularly popular in Australia as a rock'n'roll idol. His last album to date, Live-n-Kickin ' , was released in 2009.

Billy "Crash" Craddock rose in the 1970s to become one of the first and so far few "sex symbols" of the country scene, as he always wore extremely modern clothes, did his hair and, among other things, left his shirt half unbuttoned. His songs, whether ballads or faster numbers, as well as his stage presence were often based on Elvis Presley's style.

Discography

Singles

year	single	#	Chart position
			US Country	US pop	Canada Country
Sky Castle Records
1957	Smacky-Mouth / How Does It Feel	ZTSP-26671/2	-	-	-
Colonial Records
1957	Birddoggin '/ Millionaire	45-CR721	-	-	-
Columbia Records
1958	Ah, Poor Little Baby / Lulu Lee	1007	-	-	-
1959	Am I to Be the One / I Miss You So Much	4-41316	-	-	-
	Sweetie Pie "/ Blabbermouth	4-41367	-	-	-
	Boom Boom Baby / Don't Destroy Me	4-41470	-	- / 94	-
1960	I Want That / Since She Turned Seventeen	4-41536	-	-	-
	Letter of Love / All I Want Is You	4-41619	-	-	-
	One Last Kiss / Is It True or False	4-41677	-	-	-
	Heavenly Love / Good Time Billy (Is a Happiness Fool)	4-41822	-	-	-
Mercury Records
1961	How Lonely We Must Be / Truly True	71811	-	-	-
1962	A Diamond Is Forever / Ole King Cole	71862	-	-	-
King Records
1964	Right Around the Corner / Betty, Betty	45-5912	-	-	-
	My Baby's Got Flat Feet / One Heartache Too Many	45-5924	-	-	-
	Love You More Every Day / Teardrops on Your Letter	45-5964	-	-	-
Chart records
1966	There Ought to Be a Law / Two Arms Full of Lonely	1415	-	-	-
1967	Love We Live Without / Whipping Boy	1450	-	-	-
	Go on Home Girl / Learning to Live Without You	59-1004	-	-	-
1968	Anything That's Part of You / Your Love Is What Is	59-1025	-	-	-
Cartwheel Records
1971	Knock Three Times / The Best I Ever Had	A-193	3 / -	113 / -	21 / -
	Dream Lover / I Ran Out of Time	A-196	5 / -	-	-
	You Better Move On / Confidence and Common Sense	A-201	10 / -	-	-
1972	Nothin 'Shakin' (But the Leaves on the Trees) / She's My Angel	A-210	10 / -	-	1 / -
	I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door / What He Don't Know Won't Hurt Him	A-216	5 / -	-	1 / -
	Afraid I'll Want to Love Her One More Time / Treat Her Right	A-222	22 / -	-	19 / -
ABC Records
1973	Don't Be Angry / I'm a White Boy	11349	33 / -	-	22 / -
	Slippin 'and Slidin' / Living Example	11364	14 / -	-	13 / -
	'Till The Water Stops Runnin' / What Does a Loser Say	11379	8th / -	-	18 / -
	Sweet Magnolia Blossom / Home Is Such a Lonely Place to Go	11412	3 / -	-	1 / -
1974	Rub It In / It's Hard to Love a Hungry Worried Man	11437	1 / -	16 / -	1 / -
	Ruby Baby / Walk When Love Walks	12036	1 / -	33 / -	2 / -
1975	Still Thinkin '' bout You / Stay a Little Longer In Your Bed	12068	4 / -	-	1 / -
	I Love The Blues and the Boogie Woogie / No Deposit No Return	12104	10 / -	-	6 / -
	Easy as Pie / She's Mine	17584	2 / -	54 / -	1 / -
1976	Walk Softly / She's About a Mover	17619	7 / -	-	4 / -
	You Rubbed It in All Wrong / I Need Somebody to Love	17635	4 / -	-	4 / -
	Broken Down in Tiny Pieces / Shake It Easy	17659	1 / -	-	2 / -
1977	Just a Little Thing / First Time	17682	28 / -	-	21 / -
	A Tear Fell / Piece of the Rock	17701	7 / -	-	4 / -
	First Time / Walk When Love Walks	17725	10 / -	-	15 / -
1978	Another Woman / Words Still Rhyme	12335	92 / -	-	-
	I Think I'll Go Somewhere (And Cry Myself to Sleep) / It All Came Back	12357	50 / -	-	-
	Don Juan / Things Are Mostly Fine	12384	57 / -	-	-
Capitol Records
1978	I Cheated on a Good Woman's Love / Not a Day Goes By	4545	4 / -	-	4 / -
	I've Been Too Long Lonely Baby / Jailhouse Rock	4575	28 / -	-	28 / -
	Hubba Hubba / Let's Go Back to the Beginning	4624	14 / -	-	14 / -
	If I Could Write a Song as Beautiful as You / Never Ending	4672	4 / -	-	8th / -
1979	My Mama Never Heard Me Sing / As Long As I Live	4707	28 / -	-	24 / -
	Robinhood / We Never Made It to Chicago	4753	16 / -	-	34 / -
	Till I Stop Shakin '/ Sneak Out of Love	4792	24 / -	-	44 / -
1980	I Just Had You on My Mind / You Just Wanta	4838	22 / -	-	-
	Sea Cruise / She's Got Legs	4875	50 / -	-	-
	A Real Cowboy (You Say You're) / One Dream Coming	4935	20 / -	-	17 / -
1981	It Was You / Betty Ruth	4972	37 / -	-	-
	I Just Need You for Tonight / Leave Your Love a Smokin '	5011	11 / -	-	20 / -
	Now That the Feeling's Gone / She's Good to Me	5051	38 / -	-	-
1982	Darlin 'Take Care of Yourself / Love Busted	5139	- / 28	-	-
	The New Will Never Wear Off of You / Hold Me ight	5170	62 / -	-	-
Cee Cee Records
1983	Tell Me When I'm Hot /?	5400	86 / -	-	-
Atlantic Records
1989	Just Another Miserable Day (Here in Paradise) / Softly Diana	7-88851	68 / -	-	-
	To Love Somebody /?		-	-	91

Albums

year	album	Chart position		Label
		US Country	US
1964	I'm Tore Up			King
1971	Knock Three Times	18th		Cartwheel
1972	You Better Move On	37
1973	Two Sides of "Crash"	29		ABC
	The Best of Billy "Crash" Craddock	50		Chart
	Billy "Crash" Craddock			Harmony
	Mr. Country Rock	20th		ABC
1974	Rub It In	6th	142
	Greatest Hits Volume One	21st
1975	Still thinkin 'bout you	11		ABC / Dot
1976	Easy as pie	8th
	Crash	8th
1977	Billy "Crash" Craddock 16 Favorite Hits			Starday
	Live!	11		ABC / Dot
	The first time	37
1978	Singing Is Believing
	Billy "Crash" Craddock	14th		Capitol
	Sings His Greatest Hits	30th		ABC / Dot
	Turning up and turning on	20th		Capitol
1979	Laughing and Crying, Living and Dying
1980	Changes	71
1981	Crash craddock
1982	The Best of Billy "Crash" Craddock			MCA
	The New Will Never Wear Off Of You			Capitol
1983	Greatest hits
1985	Crash Craddock Live!			Cee Cee
1986	Crash craddock			MCA / Dot
	Crash's Greatest Hits			Colonial
1989	Back on track			Atlantic
1992	Boom boom baby			Bear Family
1996	Crash's Smashes			Razor & Tie
2006	Christmas favorites			Cee Cee
2009	Live -N- Kickin '

Individual evidence

1. ^ Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1991, pp. 118f
2. ↑ published on Date Records

Web links

• Official website
• Entry on Allmusic
• Discography with audio samples (until 1964)