Jerry Reed
| Jerry Reed | |
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Reed circa 1970
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jerry Reed Hubbard |
| Born |
March 20, 1937 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | September 1, 2008 (aged 71) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1956–2008 |
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Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, guitarist, and songwriter, as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", "A Thing Called Love", "Alabama Wild Man", "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot" (which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance), "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound and Down" (the theme song for the 1977 blockbuster Smokey and the Bandit, in which Reed co-starred), "The Bird", and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)".
Reed was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Robert and Cynthia Hubbard. Reed’s grandparents lived in Rockmart, and he would visit them from time to time. He was quoted as saying as a small child while running around strumming his guitar, "I am gonna be a star. I’m gonna go to Nashville and be a star." Reed’s parents separated four months after his birth, and he and his sister spent seven years in foster homes or orphanages. Reed was reunited with his mother and stepfather in 1944.
By high school, Reed was already writing and singing music, having picked up the guitar as a child. At age 18, he was signed by publisher and record producer Bill Lowery to cut his first record, "If the Good Lord’s Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise". At Capitol Records, he recorded both country and rockabilly singles to little notice until label mate Gene Vincent covered his "Crazy Legs" in 1958. By 1958, Lowery signed Reed to his National Recording Corporation, and he recorded for NRC as both artist and as a member of the staff band, which included other NRC artists Joe South and Ray Stevens.
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