<Archive Obituaries> Marty Robbins (December 8th 1982)
Bill Schenley
Photo:
http://www.westernmusic.org/HallOfFamefiles/Images/marty-robbins.jpg
FROM: The New York Times (December 10th 1982) ~
By Jon Pareles
The country singer Marty Robbins, whose song ''El Paso'' won the first
Grammy Award for best country and western song in 1960, died at St.
Thomas Hospital in Nashville late Wednesday night six days after a
heart attack. He was 57 years old and was a member of the Country
Music Hall of Fame.
The heart attack was the third suffered in 13 years by Mr. Robbins,
who underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery after last Thursday's
attack.
Mr. Robbins's music straddled country and pop ballad styles and often
had a hint of Mexican mariachi music. He recorded nearly 70 albums and
had 18 No. 1 country hits, 12 of which he wrote himself. Both ''El
Paso,'' about a cowboy who dies after a barroom shootout, and ''A
White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation'' sold more than a million
copies.
Mr. Robbins won a second Grammy award in 1970 for writing ''My Woman,
My Woman, My Wife.'' He also appeared in 15 films and was one of the
first country musicians to perform in Las Vegas.
Musical Start in Navy
Mr. Robbins was born in 1925 in Glendale, Ariz., and later moved with
his family to Phoenix. He enlisted in the Navy when he was 19 years
old. While stationed in the Pacific during his three years in the
service he began to play guitar and write songs. Back in Phoenix, he
was working as a ditchdigger when he started sitting in with a local
country band. Eventually, he formed his own group.
In the early 1950's, Mr. Robbins had his own radio show and a weekly
local television program, ''Western Caravan,'' in Phoenix. He was also
a frequent guest on broadcasts from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville
and became a regular Opry member in 1953, the same year he had his
first No. 1 country hit with ''Singin' the Blues.''
Through the 1970's, Mr. Robbins was a consistent country music
hitmaker, with 43 songs in the country music 10 including ''Tonight
Carmen,'' ''Devil Woman'' and ''Teen-age Dream.'' He had a syndicated
country music television program, ''Marty Robbins's Spotlight,'' in
the late 70's.
Mr. Robbins was named Man of the Decade by the Academy of Country
Music in 1970 and was elected to the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of
Fame in 1975. The National Cowboy Hall of Fame gave him its Golden
Trustee Award for his many gunfighter ballads in 1979, and earlier
this year he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Leading Stock-Car Racer
Mr. Robbins was also a dedicated stock-car racer, who reached the
Grand National Circuit in 1968 and usually ranked among the top 10
drivers on that circuit. He survived numerous racing accidents,
including one in 1972, when he emerged unhurt from a 150-mile-an-hour
crash at the Daytona 500.
Mr. Robbins's most recent projects included a performance at the White
House on July 4, 1981, with Frank Sinatra; his current album, ''Come
Back to Me''; an appearance in the upcoming Clint Eastwood film,
''Honky Tonk Man,'' and his regular spot on the Grand Ole Opry, where
he had been scheduled to perform last Saturday.
''I'm in this business,'' he once said, ''because I despise honest
labor.'' He is survived by his wife, Marizona, and their son, Ronnie,
and daughter, Janet.
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Photo: http://www.maaa.org/help/exhibitions/opry/robbins.jpg
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FROM: The United Press International (December 9th 1982) ~
Despite an ''incredible will to live,'' country music singer Marty
Robbins lost a six-day fight for life late Wednesday night and died
from his third heart attack in 13 years. He was 57.
Robbins, whose ballad ''El Paso'' earned him the first Grammy Award
ever given a country entertainer, died at 11:15 p.m. CST in St. Thomas
Hospital, where he underwent emergency bypass surgery last Thursday.
Robbins' wife, Marizona, and his children, Ronnie and Janet, were at
the hospital when he died after his vital signs became very unstable
earlier in the evening.
Chuck Morgan, a disc jockey on the 50,000-watt radio station WSM,
immediately broadscast Robbins' death over the Music Country Network,
carried by satellite to affiliate stations around the nation.
The reaction was almost instantaneous, he said.
''Everybody's been calling in -- there are a lot of upset fans. Mostly
they wanted us to tell them it wasn't so. A lot of them were sad that
they weren't going to see him any more,'' Morgan said.
''Marty didn't have fan clubs as such, but he had some of the most
loyal fans not only in country music, but any kind of music. If you
said anything bad about Marty Robbins, they were ready to lynch.
Morgan said the network would play nothing but Robbins songs the rest
of the night.
Robbins' death came after slight improvement in his vital signs
earlier Wednesday, leading Jackson to say that ''all hope is not lost.
But the odds are definitely pulling against him.''
Doctors had said that Robbins' ''incredible will to live'' might be
offsetting the odds.
However, Jackson said later that Robbins took a turn for the worse and
''he had been worsening all evening.''
Jackson said doctors attending Robbins had gone home after he died and
did not comment. One doctor, who asked not to be identified, stayed
with Robbins around the clock during his last hours.
Doctors earlier Wednesday called it a ''miracle'' that Robbins, who
had 18 No. 1 country hits, did not die from the attack last Thursday.
''Doctors say he is one of the few patients they have seen with this
kind of heart attack survive surgery,'' Jackson said. ''They kind of
feel it is miraculous that he ever made it to surgery, much less
survived.''
Robbins, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame only two months
ago, was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital Dec. 2 complaining of chest
pains. Tests revealed a massive heart attack caused by a blood clot in
one of the major coronary arteries.
He underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgery to repair a 1970
bypass and new damage to the heart.
After surgery, Robbins was able to smile and squeeze a nurse's hand,
prompting doctors to give him a 50-50 chance for survival but his
condition deteriorated rapidly.
''Before he would submit to the first bypass surgery, Marty made us
promise that he could still race,'' said Dr. Williams Ewers, referring
to Robbins' second love, race car driving.
Robbins competed in the Daytona 500 and finished in the top 10 in
several NASCAR races, but never won.
In one race, in 1972, at Daytona, Robbins crashed his car at a speed
near 150 mph but miraculously escaped injury.
Robbins was the first country-western singer ever to receive a Grammy.
One of his 500 compositions, a 1959 classic ballad called ''El Paso''
about a cowboy who died in a barroom shootout, earned him the Grammy
and superstar status in country music.
Robbins preferred sad songs. His haunting country vocals recorded with
a smooth, story-book style often brought tears to the eyes of his
fans.
Some of his more popular songs included ''White Sport Coat and a Pink
Carnation,'' ''Up to My Shoulders in a Headache,'' and the crossover
hit ''Pretend.''
Robbins dropped out of high school in Glendale, Ariz., and learned to
play the guitar during a hitch in the Navy. He began entertaining in
the late 1940s and gained national prominence in the early 1950s with
''Singin' the Blues.''
Before turning to music as a full-time profession, Robbins was an
amateur boxer, dug ditches, drove trucks, delivered ice and served as
a mechanic's helper.
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Photos:
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/grunge/105/MARTY3.JPG
http://home.flash.net/~dralstin/pictures-jpg/Marty-Pict.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/178/2373/400/MRobbins.jpg
Marty Robbins in art:
http://www.pattosplace.com/slotshots/cc42MartyRobbins.jpg
deb...@comcast.net
in 1982. As a callow youth, I couldn't understand why. Now, after
hearing more of Robbins' work, I know why...