T. G. Sheppard
| T.G. Sheppard | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Neal Browder |
| Also known as | Brian Stacy |
| Born | July 20, 1944 |
| Origin | Humboldt, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Country, countrypolitan |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | Melodyland, Hitsville, Warner Bros. Records Curb Records Columbia Records |
| Associated acts | Mac Davis, Kenny Rogers, Larry Gatlin, Eddie Rabbitt, B.J. Thomas |
| Website | TG Sheppard Official Site |
William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944, Humboldt, Tennessee)) is an American country music singer-songwriter, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 15 number-one hits during the 1970s and 1980s.
Sheppard dropped out of high school and at the age of 15 he ran away from home to become involved in the music industry in Memphis, Tennessee.
William Browder, as he was then known, first recorded for Atco Records as Brian Stacy in 1966. Browder worked as an executive at RCA during the early 1970s, but in 1974, signed with Melodyland (later Hitsville) Records, a short-lived country label owned by Motown Records. He used the stage name T.G. Sheppard to avoid jeopardizing his job with RCA, due to his recording material with a different label. According to Browder, “The T.G. in my stage name is really and truly just initials. A lot of people through the years have had fun putting what they want the initials to stand for, but they really don’t mean anything, they are just initials."
He recorded the song "Devil in the Bottle", which became a No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart and also became a Top 60 Pop hit in 1975. The follow-up, "Tryin' to Beat the Morning Home", also went to No. 1 and cracked the Top 100 during the summer of 1975. Several subsequent releases during 1975-77 made the Top 10 like "Motels and Memories" and "Show Me A Man".
In 1977, Sheppard signed with Warner Bros. Records. Starting with that summer's "When Can We Do This Again", he had a series of fifteen consecutive Top 10 releases, including 10 No. 1 songs. The biggest included "Last Cheater's Waltz" (1979); "I'll Be Coming Back for More" and "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven" (1980); "I Loved 'Em Every One" and "Party Time" (1981); "Only One You", "Finally", and "War is Hell (On the Homefront Too)" (1982). Another major hit came in 1984: "Slow Burn". "I Loved 'Em Every One" also reached the top forty on the U.S. pop singles chart. In 1984 he recorded, as a duet with Judy Collins, the title track of Home Again, her final album for Elektra Records.
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