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Hank Williams

Person · Male

Hank Williams

country music legend

From
Mount Olive, United States
Active
1923–1953
Rating
★ 4.4 (5 votes)
Releases
215
  • country
  • honky tonk
  • classic country
  • traditional country
  • blues
  • country blues
  • country gospel
  • folk

About

Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. Williams recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, 5 of which were released posthumously, and 12 of which reached No. 1.

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Born and raised in Alabama, Williams learned guitar from blues musician Rufus Payne. Both Payne and Roy Acuff significantly influenced his musical style. After winning an amateur talent contest, Williams began his professional career in Montgomery in the late 1930s playing on local radio stations and at area venues such as school houses, movie theaters, and bars. He formed the Drifting Cowboys backup band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career. Because his alcoholism made him unreliable, he was fired and rehired several times by radio station WSFA. Williams also had trouble replacing several of his band members who were drafted during World War II.
In 1944, Williams married Audrey Sheppard, who competed with his mother to control his career. After recording "Never Again" and "Honky Tonkin'" with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. He released the hit single "Move It On Over" in 1947 and joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. The next year he released a cover of "Lovesick Blues", which quickly reached number one on Billboard's Top Country & Western singles chart and propelled him to stardom on the Grand Ole Opry. Although unable to read or notate music to any significant degree, he wrote such iconic hits as "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". During his final years, he struggled with back pain and substance abuse, exacerbating the strain on his relationships with Audrey and the Grand Ole Opry.
Williams died on New Year's Day 1953 at the age of 29, his heart failing in the back seat of a car near Oak Hill, West Virginia, en route to a concert in Canton, Ohio. Despite his relatively brief career, he is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century, especially in country music. Many artists have covered his songs and he has influenced Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, among others. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1999, and gained a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2010, he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life." His life and career were dramatized in the 1964 biopic Your Cheatin' Heart and the 2015 biopic I Saw the Light.

From Hank Williams on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Member of

Discography

Albums 15
EPs 1
Singles 44
Live 8
Compilations 146

Showing 60 of 146. See them all on MusicBrainz

Other 1

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Also known as

H. Viljamss · Hank And Audrey · Hank Williams And The Country Boys · Hank Williams Sr · Hank Williams Sr. · Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys · Hank Williams and His Drifting Cowboys · Hank Williams, Sr. · Henks Viljams · Hiram King Williams · Luke the Drifter · Williams · Б. Хэнк · Э. Уильямс

Identifiers

ISNI
0000000073577397
IPI
00058261964
IPI
00058262177

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 13 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.