Give Name: Hubert Brad Lewis
Date of Birth: December 7, 1932
Place of Birth: Yeaddiss, Kentucky
Marital Status: Anna
Children: Lance, Lamont, Sandra
Musical Syle: Straight-Ahead Country
Talents: Singer, Songwriter, Guitar
Recommend Record Albums:
"The Hugh X. Lewis Album" (Kapp)(1966) "Just Before the Dawn" (Kapp)(1966) "My Kind of Country" (Kapp)(1967) "Just a Prayer Away" (Kapp)(1968) "Country Fever" (Kapp)(1968)
For some while, Hugh X. Lewis carried on the dual careers of performer and working in the mines. Originally this happened because his parents could not afford to pay his way while he tried for success in music. He started out by playing on weekends and days off and his first paying engagement was at a club in Cumberland, Kentucky. During the mid and late 50’s, Hugh became a regular member of a weekly TV show in Johnson City, Tennessee and on Saturday nights, he went to Knoxville to appear on Tennessee Barn Dance. Then in 1959, he became foreman at the U.S. Steel mine in Lynch, Kentucky. By the 1960’s, Hugh was getting quite a reputation with his fellow artists because of his 1963 performances on WSAZ’s Saturday Night Jamboree from Huntington and the Ernest Tubb Show from Nashville. He had already started writing and now he quit his day job and moved to Nashville. He did the rounds and was picked up by publisher Jim Denny, who died shortly after. Hugh got his first major cut in 1963 when Stonewall Jackson recorded B.J. The D.J and took it to No.1. This song was later recorded by both Kitty Wells and Carl Smith. By 1964, Lewis was signed to Kapp Records and he hit the Country charts with What I Need Most, which peaked in the Top 25. He stayed with the label until 1969, during which time he chalked up 11 hits of which the most successful were Out Where The Oceans Meet The Sky (Top 40), I’d Better Call The Law On Me (Top 30 both 1965), You’re So Cold (I’m Turning Blue) (Top 40, 1967) and Evolution And The Bible (Top 40, 1968). This success had a knock-out effect. He made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry in 1964 and that same year, Stonewall Jackson had a hit with another Lewis song, Not My Kind Of People. Jackson would go on and record a third Lewis composition, Picket Sign. During the year, Carl Smith recorded Hugh’s Take My Ring Off Your Finger. The following year, Carl and Pearl Butler had a hit with Hugh’s Just Thought I’d Let You Know, which was also recorded by Leon McAuliffe. During 1966, Hugh made his movie debut in Atlantic’s Forty Acre Feud. The following year, he made appearances in an additional two movies, Gold Guitar (Airlon) and Cotton-Pickin’ Chicken-Pickers (South Eastern). At the end of 1969, Hugh moved over to Columbia Records, but only managed one Top 60 single, Everything I Love, in 1970. By the end of 1970, Hugh was on the move again, this time to GRT, where he had one Top 70 record, Blues Sell A Lot Of Booze. Nothing much happened on the recording front until 1978, when he signed to Little Darlin’. There he had two basement-level entries, Love Don’t Hide From Me (1978) and What Can I Do (To Make You Love Me) (1979).
|
