Jim Reeves

Jim Reeves
Singer

James Travis Reeves was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter.
Reeves was born on August 20, 1923, in Galloway, Texas. As a child he was known as Travis. He won an Athletic Scholarship at the University of Texas. He started working at the Houston Shipyard. He start to play baseball as a right-handed pitcher for 3 years in the semi-professional league in 1944. Due to severe sciatic nerve problems during pitching, his athletic career came to an end.
Jim Reeves married Mary White on September 3, 1947. They never had any children.
Reeves began working as a radio announcer. In the late 1940's, he signed contracts with a number of small Texas-based small recording companies but had no success. Reeves was influenced by many singers during this time, including Jimmy Rogers, Moon Mulikan, Bing Crosby, Eddie Arnold, and Frank Sinatra. In the late 1940s, Reeves joined Moon Mullican's band but left for a solo career and recorded songs "Each Beat of my Heart" and "My Heart's Like a Welcome Mat".
Jim Reeves first achieved success in 1953 with the song "Mexican Joe". Reeves worked as a announcer for KWKH-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana, and then for the popular radio country music show "Louisiana Hayride." Raymond Franklin Page, also known as Frank Page, who introduced Elvis Presley at the Louisiana Hayride Program on October 16, 1954. Singer Sleepy LaBeef was late for the performance then and Reeves was asked to substitute.
Reeves was instrumental in creating a new style of country music that used the violin and lusher background setting that soon became known as Nashville Sound. This new sound was able to cross genres, which made Reeves even more popular as a recording artist.
Reeves' international popularity in the 1960s, sometimes surpassing his popularity in the United States, helped to market the country's music for the first time worldwide. According to Billboard, the "Reeves’ star shone equally bright overseas in the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and even South Africa".
In the early 1960's, Reeves was more popular in South Africa than Elvis Presley, and recorded several albums in the African language.
Reeves toured Britain and Ireland in 1963. He was one of the most popular recording artists in Ireland in the top 10 after the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard.
Reeves played at the Njårdhallen Sports Arena in Oslo, Norway on April 16, 1964.
On July 31, 1964, Reeves encountered a violent thunderstorm as he flew over Brentwood, Tennessee, on his way to Nashville from Batesville, Arkansas. Reeves fell in heavy rain at 4:51 p.m., and crashed just a minute later. When the wreckage was found about 42 hours later, the plane's engine and nose were crushed to the ground. On the morning of August 2, 1964, after a thorough search by several parties (including several personal friends of Reeves, such as Ernest Tubb and Marty Robbins), the dead bodies of Jim Reeves and his manager, Dean Manuel, were found in the wreckage. At 1:00 local time, radio stations across the United States began officially announcing Reeves' death. He was buried near Carthage, Texas.

Songs of Jim Reeves

* Mexican Joe (1953)
* I Love You (1854) with Ginny Wright
* Bimbo (1954)
* According to Your Heart (1956)
* My Lips are Sealed (1956)
* Am I losing You (1957)
* Four Wall (1957)
* Two Shadows on Your Window (1957)

More About Jim Reeves and Images

Jim Reeves with Bobby Bare, Anita Kerr and Chet Atkins in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kimberley Jim is a 1963 South African musical comedy film directed by Emil Nofal and starring Jim Reeves, Madeleine Usher and Clive Parnell. The film was released in 1965 after Reeves's death.

Jim Reeves Photograph in 1964.

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