Cowboy Jack Clement
| Jack Clement | |
|---|---|
Clement in 1978
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jack Henderson Clement |
| Also known as | "Cowboy" Jack Clement |
| Born |
April 5, 1931 Memphis, Tennessee, US |
| Died | August 8, 2013 (aged 82) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock and roll, country, folk, rockabilly |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Years active | 1953–2013 |
| Labels | Sun, RCA, J-M-I |
| Website | cowboyjackclement.com |
Jack Henderson Clement (April 5, 1931 – August 8, 2013) was an American singer, songwriter, and record and film producer.
Raised and educated in Memphis, Clement was performing at an early age, playing guitar and Dobro. Before embarking on a career in music, he served in the United States Marines. In 1953, he made his first record for Sheraton Records in Boston, Massachusetts, but he did not immediately pursue a full-time career in music, instead choosing to study at Memphis State University from 1953 to 1955. Nicknamed "Cowboy" Jack Clement, during his student days, he played steel guitar with a local band. In 1956 he was part of one of the seminal events in rock and roll history when he went to work as a producer and engineer for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. There, Clement worked with future stars such as Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. Most importantly, he discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis while Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida. One of those recordings, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", was selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
In 1957, Clement wrote the song "Ballad of a Teenage Queen", which became a crossover hit for Johnny Cash. Other Cash hits written by Clement included "Guess Things Happen That Way", which was number 1 on the country chart and number 11 on the pop chart in 1958, and the humorous "The One on the Right Is on the Left", which was a number 2 country and number 46 pop hit in 1966. He produced Cash's number 1 hit "Ring of Fire" in 1963. Clement performed "Guess Things Happen That Way" on the "Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute" show on CMT (Country Music Television) in November 2003.
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