Billy Swan

Billy Swan (born May 12, 1942 as William Lance Swan in Cape Girardeau , Missouri ) is an American country singer and songwriter, who became famous in 1975 with the hit I Can Help .

Beginnings

In the early 1960s, Billy Swan moved to Memphis , where he worked as a songwriter and made his first own recordings. For a while he lived with an uncle of Elvis Presley . At the age of 21 he moved on to Nashville , the heart of country music. Here he first had to keep himself afloat with odd jobs. Among other things, he worked for eighteen months as a caretaker in the Columbia Studios. His successor in this job was Kris Kristofferson .

Career

Considered an outsider, but also an emerging talent, Swan was given the chance to work on the Monument label as producer of Tony Joe White . The greatest success of this collaboration was White's top 10 hit Polk Salad Annie in 1969 . Meanwhile, his friend Kristofferson had made a career and took him over to his band. He also accompanied Kinky Friedman and Billy Joe Shaver on tours during these years . In 1973 he released his first single on Monument. His breakthrough came a year later with his self-written song I Can Help , which became a global hit and reached number one in both the country and pop charts.

Although it appeared in the middle of the country charts a few times in the following years, it was considered a classic " one-hit wonder " in the industry . He achieved his last top 20 placements in 1981, his last top 100 success in 1986. Even a multiple label change could not stop the downward trend. As a session musician and songwriter, he was still in demand and the collaboration with Kristofferson was continued.

Swan continued touring with Kris Kristofferson's band and recorded two albums with Randy Meisner of the Eagles . In 1986 he recorded the studio album When the Night Falls as a member of the music group Black Tie . His band members were Meisner, James Griffin ( Bread ) († 2005), David Kemper on drums, David Miner and David Mansfield. He also recorded a solo album ( Like Elvis Used to Do ) and another black-tie album Meisner, Swan & Rich . In 2005 he was still active as a background singer and session musician .

Swan was married to Marlu Swan ( née Been ) for 30 years, until her death in February 2003 . This marriage resulted in two daughters who later also entered the music business: Planet Swan and Sierra Swan .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1974	I can help	DE33 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US21 (16 weeks) US	First published: November 1974

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

more publishments

• 1975: Rock 'n' Roll Moon
• 1976: Billy Swan
• 1977: Four
• 1978: You're Ok, I'm Ok
• 1981: I'm Into Lovin 'You

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1974	I Can Help I Can Help	DE1 (26 weeks) DE	AT1 (24 weeks) AT	CH1 (17 weeks) CH	UK6th silver (9 weeks)UK	US1 gold (18 weeks)US	First published: July 1974
1975	I'm Her Fool I Can Help	-	AT14 (4 weeks) AT	-	-	US53 (4 weeks) US	First published: February 1975
	Don't Be Cruel I Can Help	DE26 (15 weeks) DE	AT16 (8 weeks) AT	CH4 (14 weeks) CH	UK42 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 1975
	Everything's the Same (Ain't Nothing Changed) Rock 'n' Roll Moon	DE36 (6 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US91 (5 weeks) US	First published: September 1975

More singles

• 1976: Just Want to Taste Your Wine (with The Jordanaires )

swell

1. ↑ Marlu Swan. Southeast Missourian (Newspaper), February 26, 2003, accessed October 14, 2014 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US UK

Web links

• http://www.rockabillyhall.com/SwanBilly1.html