Floyd Tillman
| Floyd Tillman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 8, 1914 Ryan, Oklahoma |
| Origin | San Antonio, Texas, United States |
| Died | August 22, 2003 (aged 88) Bacliff, Texas |
| Genres | Country music, Western swing, Honky tonk |
| Occupation(s) | musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1938–2003 |
| Labels | Decca, Musicor, RCA Victor, Columbia, Heart of Texas |
Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 – August 22, 2003) was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.
Tillman grew up in the cotton-mill town of Post, Texas as a sharecropper's son. One of his early jobs was with Western Union as a telegraph operator. In the early 1930s He played mandolin at local dances and eventually took up the guitar.
Tillman moved to San Antonio played lead guitar with Adolph Hofner, a Western swing bandleader, and soon developed into a songwriter and singer. He took a job with Houston pop bandleader Mack Clark in 1938 and played with Western swing groups fronted by Leon “Pappy” Selph and Cliff Bruner. He also worked with Ted Daffan, and singer and piano player Moon Mullican.
Tillman recorded as a featured vocalist with Selph’s Blue Ridge Playboys in 1938, the same year Floyd scored his first major songwriting hit, "It Makes No Difference Now", giving him his own Decca recording contract. Jimmie Davis purchased the song from Floyd for $300, the rights to which he got back 28 years later.
Tillman's only No. 1 one song as a singer was "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven". It reached the top of the charts in 1944. Previously, he had reached No. 2 with "I'm Gonna Change All My Ways". His 1944 hit, "Each Night At Nine", struck a chord with lonely servicemen during World War II. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose played it heavily to encourage desertion.
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