Sue Thompson
Sue Thompson (born July 19, 1926 in Nevada , Missouri ; real name: Eva Sue McKee ) is an American pop music and country singer . In the 1960s she was featured on the Hot 100 charts several times .
Life
Known for her distinctive voice, Sue Thompson had several storytelling hits in the early 1960s before turning into a mature country performer in the 1970s. At the age of seven, when her name was Eva Sue McKee, she sang country songs on stage and accompanied herself on guitar. After her family moved to San Jose , she appeared on a local television show there during her teenage years. During the Second World War, Thompson worked in an armaments factory, married and had a daughter at the age of 20. However, the marriage lasted only three years, after which she began performing in clubs again in Northern California. After winning a youth competition, singer, band leader and presenter Dude Martin became aware of Thompson. Martin offered her to participate in his band and a little later became her second husband. Both recorded a couple of duet records, and eventually Sue Thompson managed to secure a solo record deal with Mercury in 1950 that lasted seven years.
A year later she met the country singer Hank Penny learn, who put on a show with her husband. She divorced Martin and married Penny. Both hosted a television show in Los Angeles for two years and then moved to Las Vegas , where they performed in the casinos. Together as individually, they released a number of records on Decca , but failed to land any hits. In the late 1950s, Sue Thompson worked alongside Red Foley on the composition of the musical Grand Ole Opry . After a three-year contractless period, after releasing a record under the name Taffy Thomas with Columbia in 1960, she signed a record deal with Hickory Records in 1961 and a year later had two titles in the top 10 of the pop charts with Sad Movies and Norman . Until the middle of the sixties she was able to successfully bind her audience, which was much younger than the now almost forty-year-old, but was fascinated by the extremely youthful sounding voice.
After Sue Thompson had her last major record success with Paper Tiger in early 1965 , she turned back to country music, with which she was listed twelve times in the country charts until 1976. In 1972 she recorded three duet albums with Don Gibson . When her record sales stagnated from 1976, she turned back to the casinos in Las Vegas. After separating from her third husband, Hank Penny, in 1963, she married a fourth time. She now settled in Las Vegas and had occasional public appearances until the 1990s.
Hot 100 singles on Billboard
| year | title | Pop songs | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) | 5. | |
| 1961 | Norman | 3. | |
| 1962 | Two of a Kind by | 42. | |
| 1962 | Have a good time | 31. | |
| 1962 | James | 17th | |
| 1963 | Willie Can | 78. | |
| 1965 | Paper tiger | 23. | |
| 1972 | Candy and Roses | 72. | |
| 1975 | Big Mable Murphy | 50. | |
| 1976 | Never Naughty Rosie | 95. | |
| Sue Thompson & Don Gibson | |||
| 1971 | The Two of Us Together | 50. | |
| 1972 | Cause I love you | 64. | |
| 1972 | Did you ever think | 71. | |
| 1972 | I think they call it love | 37. | |
| 1973 | Go with me | 52. | |
| 1973 | Warm love | 53. | |
| 1974 | Good old fashioned country love | 31. | |
| 1975 | Oh how love changes | 36. | |
| 1976 | Get Ready-Here I Come | 98 | |
Sue Thompson in Europe
With the change to the record company Hickory, Thompson's records were also distributed in Europe. In Great Britain it was Hickory itself, while on the continent, including Germany, the Dutch company Funckler took over the sales. In the German hit lists, Thompson was only able to place with Norman . In the music market, the title (catalog number Funckler 45059) made it into the top 50 on July 14, 1962, where it achieved the best ranking within ten weeks with rank 27. In Great Britain it was not until 1965 before New Musical Express listed the title Paper Tiger (Catalog No. Hickory 1006) at number 30 for a week. In Germany, CBS published a German-language cover version of Paper Tiger with Sue Thompson under No. 1858 under the title Blonder Tiger with a text by Ralph Siegel .
US discography (45 rpm singles)
| title | Cat.No. | released |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury | ||
| What You've Got / You're Gettin 'A Good Girl | 6325 | 4/1951 |
| Just Walking Out The Door / I'll Hate Myself In The Morning | 6377 | 1/1952 |
| Junior's A Big Boy Now / Tadpole | 6390 | 4/1952 |
| You Belong To Me / You're An Angel On Outside | 6407 | 6/1952 |
| Red Hot Henrietta Brown / Last Night I Heard Somebody Cry | 6416 | 9/1952 |
| If You Should Change / How Many Tears | 70066 | 1/1953 |
| Take Care My Love / Things I Might Have Been | 70084 | 2/1953 |
| You And Me / Say It With Your Heart | 70089 | 2/1953 |
| I'm Not that Kind of Girl / I Long to Tell You | 70152 | 4/1953 |
| Donna Wanna / Gee But I Hate to Go Home Alone | 70309 | 2/1954 |
| Decca | ||
| Walking in The Snow / Come a Little Bit Closer (& Hank Penny) | 29314 | 10/1954 |
| Your Mommie and Your Daddy / Day Dreamer | 29545 | 6/1955 |
| Walking To Missouri / Red Hot Henrietta Brown | 30435 | 9/1957 |
| Columbia | ||
| Say Something Nice To Me / I Said No (published under Taffy Thomas) |
41644 | 4/1960 |
| hickory | ||
| Angel, Angel / Throwin 'Kisses | 1144 | 4/1961 |
| Sad Movies Make Me Cry / Nine Little Teardrops | 1153 | 7/1961 |
| Norman / Never Love Again | 1159 | 10/1961 |
| Two of A Kind / It Has to Be | 1166 | 2/1962 |
| Have A Good Time / If the Boy Only Knew | 1174 | 5/1962 |
| James (Hold The Ladder Steady) / My Hero | 1183 | 9/1962 |
| Willie Can / Too Much in Love | 1196 | 12/1962 |
| What's Wrong Bill? / I need a harbor | 1204 | 2/1963 |
| Suzie / True Confessions | 1217 | 6/1963 |
| I Like Your Kind of Love / Too Hot to Dance (& Bob Luman) | 1221 | 8/1963 |
| Cause I Asked You To / It's Twelve-Thirty-Five | 1234 | 10/1963 |
| Big Daddy / I'd Like to Know You Better | 1240 | 1/1964 |
| Bad boy / toys | 1255 | 4/1964 |
| Looking For A Good Boy / Big Hearted Me | 1270 | 7/1964 |
| Paper Tiger / Mama, Don't Cry at My Wedding | 1284 | 11/1964 |
| What I'm Needing Is You / Stop the Music | 1308 | 4/1965 |
| It's Break Up Time / Afraid | 1328 | 7/1965 |
| Sweet Hunk of Misery / Just Kiss Me | 1340 | 10/1965 |
| Walkin 'My Baby / I'm Looking (For a World) | 1359 | 12/1965 |
| What Should I Do / After the Heartache | 1381 | 4/1966 |
| I Can't Help It, I'm Still in Love with You / Put It Back | 1403 | 7/1966 |
| Someone / From My Balcony | 1423 | 9/1966 |
| Language of Love / Let Me Down Hard | 1431 | 12/1966 |
| The Ferris Wheel / Don't Forget to Cry | 1457 | 4/1967 |
| Straight To Helen / That's Just Too Much | 1469 | 8/1967 |
| Dear Boy / Love Has Come My Way | 1488 | 12/1967 |
| How Do You Start Over / Why Not | 1493 | 4/1968 |
| You Deserve Each Other / Doin 'Nothin | 1512 | 8/1968 |
| Don't Try To Change Me / The Real Me | 1524 | 12/1968 |
| Tennessee Waltz / Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass? | 1534 | 5/1969 |
| Are You Teasing Me / Thoughts (& Roy Acuff, Jr.) | 1542 | 8/1969 |
| You Two Timed Me Once Too Often / A Pair of Broken Hearts | 1547 | 9/1969 |
| Till I Can't Take It Anymore / Talk Back Trembling Lips | 1558 | 1/1970 |
| The Lost Highway / Just Keep Hangin 'On | 1560 | 2/1970 |
| Why You Been Gone So Long / Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes | 1573 | 7/1970 |
| Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Tonight / Whole Lot of Walkin | 1577 | 7/1970 |
| Take A Little Time / Because You Love Me | 1587 | 12/1970 |
| What You See Is What You Got / Here's to Forever (& Don Gibson) | 1596 | 4/1971 |
| The Two of us Together / Oh, Yes I Love You (& Don Gibson) | 1607 | 8/1971 |
| Thanks To Rumors / Swiss Cottage Place | 1612 | 11/1971 |
| What A Woman In Love Won't Do / Let Your Thoughts Be Sweet | 1622 | 2/1972 |
| Love's Garden / Did You Ever Think? (& Don Gibson) | 1629 | 4/1972 |
| Sweet Memories / Take Me As I Am | 1641 | 6/1972 |
| I Think They Call It Love / Over There's the Door (& Don Gibson) | 1646 | 7/1972 |
| Candy & Roses / A full time job | 1652 | 10/1972 |
| Cause I Love You / My Tears Don't Show (& Don Gibson) | 1654 | 12/1972 |
| The Two of Us Togethe / Go With Me (& Don Gibson) | 1665 | 2/1973 |
| Just Two Young People / How I Love Them Old Songs | 1669 | 5/1973 |
| Warm Love / Fly the Friendly Skies of Jesus (& Don Gibson) | 303 | 8/1973 |
| Just Plain Country / Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh | 308 | 1973 |
| That's What I'll Do / Sweet Dreams (& Don Gibson) | 306 | 9/1973 |
| Just Plain Country / Oh Johnny Oh Johnny Oh | 308 | 11/1973 |
| Find Out / Stay Another Day | 313 | 2/1974 |
| Sweet Memories / Making Love To You Is Just like Eating Peanuts | 320 | 5/1974 |
| Good Old Fashioned Country Love / Ages And Ages Ago (& Don Gibson) | 324 | 7/1974 |
| And Love Me / Trains | 330 | 9/1974 |
| Oh How Love Changes / Sweet And Tender (& Don Gibson) | 350 | 7/1975 |
| Big Mable Murphy / Big Daddy | 354 | 7/1975 |
| Never Naughty Rosie / He Cheats On Me | 364 | 1/1976 |
| Get Ready Here I Come / Once More (& Don Gibson) | 367 | 3/1976 |
literature
- Frank Laufenberg : Rock- und Poplexikon Vol. 2, Econ Taschenbuch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1998, p. 1513, ISBN 3-612-26206-8
- Martin Reichold: The great rock & pop single price catalog 2001, Vereinigte Motor-Verlage Stuttgart, p. 322, ISBN 3-89113-120-8
- Günter Ehnert: British Chart Singles 1950-1965, Taurus Press Hamburg 1995, p. 171, ISBN 3-922542-32-8
- Günter Ehnert: German Chart Singles 1956-1980. Taurus Press Hamburg 1990, p. 204, ISBN 3-922542-24-7
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thompson, Sue |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thomson, Sue; McKee, Eva Sue |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pop and country singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 19, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nevada , Missouri |