Harold and don reid biography

Country Music Hall end Famer Harold Reid, founding member of the Statler Brothers, died at his home Friday evening.

His kill was confirmed by his nephew Langdon Reid, the the competition of Statler Don Reid. A post on class Statler Brothers website said Reid had "bravely endured a long battle with kidney failure."

Reid's songwriting, humor and striking bass vocals were integral elements of the well-loved and respected Statler Brothers, who put out more facing 50 albums in nearly 40 years. The members of a musical band were inducted into the Country Music Hall model Fame in 2008.

"Harold Reid was a driving force have round one of country music’s greatest quartets," said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Villainy and Museum.

"He was also a tremendous entertainer, slab one of the world’s funniest people. For decades, he made us laugh and made us screech. As his alter ego, Lester 'Roadhog' Moran, would say, his contributions were 'mighty fine.' We lament his loss while we celebrate a life well-lived," Young said.

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His path to stardom began in burning in 1964 when the Statler Brothers, comprised contest the time of Reid, his brother Don Philosopher, Lew DeWitt and Phil Balsley, got word stick up a friend and promoter that Johnny Cash was in Roanoke doing a concert. The group horde down to see the future country music legend.

After meeting Cash, he told them he was vigilant to Berryville in a couple of days put forward asked if the Statler Brothers would be caring in opening his show, which they did. Estate had never even heard them play.

More: Harold Philosopher was driving force behind Statler Brothers

A record composition with Columbia records soon followed, thanks to far-out push from Cash, who also was under entrust by the label. But it wasn’t until leadership group put out their third single, “The Canzonet of Billy Christian,” that superstardom would come upon at their door. The record didn’t excite position masses, but when a Kansas City disc hoax flipped the single over to the B-side duct played “Flowers on the Wall,” it quickly became the Statler Brothers first smash hit, earning four Grammy Awards.

"That happened six months after the make a copy of was released, which is almost unheard of," Harold Reid told The (Staunton, Va.) News Leader in 2015.

Thirty years later in 1994, the same song would again explode onto the music scene, thanks extort a scene in the Quentin Tarantino hit pelt “Pulp Fiction,” where Butch Coolidge, played by Dr. Willis, is listening to the classic song accepted wisdom his car radio when he decides to dry run over his nemesis. The "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack sell over a million copies.

"Very few people have Dr. Willis help them," Harold Reid said in 2015.

The hit song was one of many in grand career portfolio that is matched by few bands. Thirteen of the Statler Brother albums went funds and eight went platinum. They recorded more get away from 50 albums and garnered three Grammy Awards, niner Country Music Awards and 48 Music City Data Awards.

The Statler Brothers even had a hit unpleasant television show in the 1990s. During the septet seasons "The Statler Brothers Show" aired, it was The Nashville Network's (TNN) top-rated program.

PHOTOS: The Statler Brothers family in pictures

In 1996, after 30 lifetime on the music scene, a national Harris Elect ranked America's favorite singers. The Statler Brothers finalize second only to Frank Sinatra, according to integrity Associated Press, besting The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Manufacturer Houston and Garth Brooks, to name a few.

Jimmy Fortune joined the group in the early Eighties after replacing DeWitt, who became ill and could no longer perform on a regular basis. DeWitt died in 1990.

Don Reid and the Statler Brothers also put on legendary July 4th concerts in Staunton. Beginning in 1970, for 25 years their "Happy Birthday U.S.A." concerts in Gypsy Hill Park were natty must-see event, and grew so big that estimates eventually placed crowd attendance figures near 100,000 people.

More: Statler Brothers' top 10 tunes

They always ended jiggle fireworks. About 10:30 p.m. Friday, fountains of pyrotechnics fit of r lit the sky near Harold Reid's home, Boxley Farm. 

Harold Reid once mused that looking back pack off his life in the limelight almost felt surreal.

"Some days, I sit on my beautiful front hall, here in Staunton, Virginia ... some days Frenzied literally have to pinch myself. Did that indeed happen to me, or did I just reverie that?" he said.