Hoyt Axton

Hoyt Wayne Axton (born March 25, 1938 in Comanche , Oklahoma , † October 26, 1999 in Helena , Montana ) was an American country singer , songwriter and actor .

Life

Hoyt Axton was the son of well-known songwriter Mae Boren Axton , who co-wrote Elvis Presley's hit Heartbreak Hotel . Hoyt received extensive musical training. After his military service, he began as a folk singer on the American west coast in the late 1950s.

In 1962 he wrote Greenback Dollars with Ken Ramsey , with whom the Kingston Trio achieved a hit. This success brought him no money, but a record deal with the Horizon label. The albums The Balladeer and Thunder 'n Lightnin' were released in quick succession . In 1968 his song The Pusher was made a hit by the rock band Steppenwolf and used in the film Easy Rider . He changed labels several times and made other albums. At first he only had success as a songwriter. In 1969 the band Three Dog Night achieved a world hit with their Joy To The World . In addition, numerous stars of country music used his material.

After further label changes, he signed with A&M in 1974. With When The Morning Comes and Boney Fingers he got his own hits for the first time. In 1979 he started his own label, Jeremiah. Here he managed another top 10 hit with Della And The Dealer . In addition to his musical activities, he took part in several films and television series, where he had one of his first appearances in 1965 in the episode Unforgotten songs from the series Bonanza . He took two of his most famous film roles in the horse drama The Black Stallion (1979) and as a sappy family man in the horror comedy Gremlins (1984) directed by Joe Dante .

In 1995, the overweight Axton suffered a heart attack. However, he never fully recovered. Hoyt Axton died on October 26, 1999 after several other heart attacks.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1974	Life Machine	-	Country21 (7 weeks) Country	AT THE
1975	Southbound	US188 (2 weeks) US	Country27 (6 weeks) Country	AT THE
1976	Fearless	US171 (4 weeks) US	Country26 (14 weeks) Country	AT THE
1977	Snowblind Friend	-	Country36 (11 weeks) Country	MCA
1978	Road songs	-	Country40 (5 weeks) Country	AT THE
	Free Sailin '	-	Country42 (5 weeks) Country	MCA
1979	A Rusty Old Halo	-	Country27 (40 weeks) Country	Jeremiah
1980	Where Did The Money Go?	-	Country31 (31 weeks) Country	Jeremiah
1981	Live!	-	Country30 (41 weeks) Country	Jeremiah
1982	Pistol Packin 'Mama	-	Country41 (15 weeks) Country	Jeremiah

More albums

• 1962: The Balladeer (Horizon)
• 1963: Thunder 'n Lightnin' (Horizon)
• 1963: Saturday's Child (Horizon)
• 1964: Hoyt Axton Explodes! (Vee-jay)
• 1965: Mr. Greenback Dollar Man (Surrey)
• 1966: Hoyt Axton Sings Bessie Smith (Exodus)
• 1969: My Griffin Is Gone (Columbia)
• 1971: Joy To The World (Capitol)
• 1971: Country Anthem (Capitol)
• 1973: Less Than The Song (A&M)
• 1984: American Dreams (Jeremiah)
• 1990: Spin Of The Wheel (dpi)
• 1995: Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog (Youngheart Music)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1974	When The Morning Comes Life Machine	US54 (6 weeks) US	Country10 (15 weeks) Country	with Linda Ronstadt
	Boney Fingers Life Machine	-	Country8 (16 weeks) Country	with Renee Armand
1975	Nashville Southbound	-	Country61 (9 weeks) Country
	Lion in the Winter Southbound	-	Country57 (7 weeks) Country	with Linda Ronstadt
1976	Flash of Fire Fearless	-	Country18 (14 weeks) Country
1977	You're the Hangnail in My Life Snowblind Friend	-	Country57 (7 weeks) Country
	Little White Moon Snowblind Friend	-	Country65 (6 weeks) Country
1979	Della and the Dealer A Rusty Old Halo	-	Country17 (15 weeks) Country
	A Rusty Old Halo A Rusty Old Halo	-	Country14 (14 weeks) Country
1980	Wild Bull Rider A Rusty Old Halo	-	Country21 (12 weeks) Country
	Evangelina (1980) A Rusty Old Halo	-	Country37 (12 weeks) Country
	Where Did the Money Go Where Did the Money Go	-	Country80 (3 weeks) Country
1981	Flo's Yellow Rose	-	Country78 (3 weeks) Country
	The Devil Live!	-	Country86 (4 weeks) Country

More singles

• 1963: Greenback Dollar
• 1973: Sweet Misery
• 1975: Speed ​​Trap
• 1975: In a Young Girl's Mind
• 1976: Evangelina
• 1980: Boozers Are Losers (When Benders Don't End)
• 1981: (We've Got To) Win This One
• 1982: (When You Dance) You Do Not Tango
• 1982: There Stands the Glass
• 1982: Pistol Packin 'Mama
• 1983: Warm Storms and Wild Flowers
• 1983: If You're a Cowboy

Filmography (selection)

• 1965: Smoky, Friend from the Wild (Smokey)
• 1979: The Black Stallion (The Black Stallion)
• 1982: Blown Out of Love (Liar's Moon)
• 1982: Endangered Species
• 1983: ... and when the last tire bursts (Heart Like a Wheel)
• 1983: The Black Stallion Returns (The Black Stallion Returns)
• 1984: Gremlins - Little Monsters (Gremlins)
• 1987: Retribution - The return of the incomprehensible (Retribution)
• 1987: And suddenly it was Christmas (Christmas Comes to Willow Creek)
• 1988: Desperado 3 (Desperado: Avalanche at Devils Ridge)
• 1989: We're No Angels (We're No Angels)
• 1989: All hell breaks loose in the vault (Disorganized Crime)
• 1990: Buried Alive ( Buried Alive , TV movie)
• 1993: Doorways - The Fourth Dimension ( Doorways , TV movie)
• 1995: Kingfish (TV movie)
• 1998: Killer Kobra - Death stands in line (King Cobra)

Remarks

1. ↑ For the chart listings in the C&W charts, see Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits 1944-2006 . 2nd updated and expanded edition. New York: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 35
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: US

literature

• Erlewine, Michael u. a. (Ed.): All Music Guide to Country Music. The experts guide to the best recordings in country music . San Francisco, Cal .: Miller Freeman Books, 1997, p. 22
• Dellar, Fred / Thompson, Roy: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Country Music . Foreword by Roy Acuff. 2nd edition London: Salamander Books, 1979, p. 18

Web links

• Hoyt Axton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Homepage ( Memento from August 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Hoyt Axton at Allmusic (English)