| Lee
Greenwood was born with a
good voice and a wide range. He turned
it into a unique voice accidentally, by
overworking it in a less-than-healthy
setting. Hailing from Sacramento, he
used his musical training on the casino
circuit, working in the green-felt
jungles of Reno and Las Vegas, where he
dealt cards by day and sang in dark
lounges by night. The physical toll of
two jobs, the vocal strain of performing
six nights a week, and the damaging
endeavor to sing in smoky nightclubs
before the advent of smoking ordinances
brought Greenwood a permanent
hoarseness. He's used it to his
advantage, becoming one of country
music's premier balladeers. Discovered
by Mel Tillis' road manager, Larry
McFaden, Greenwood paid for his own
ticket to fly to Nashville and cut a few
demos, and it took more than a year for
that effort to pay off. When it finally
did, Greenwood broke through in late
1981 with "It Turns Me Inside Out," in
which his exaggerated vibrato brought
frequent comparisons to Kenny Rogers. In
short order, Greenwood disposed of the
"Kenny clone" image, but he continued to
mine romantic material for the bulk of
his hits. Occasional exceptions include
"Touch and Go Crazy" and "Mornin' Ride,"
but the biggest exception is also his
signature song, the self-written "God
Bless the U.S.A.," which earned Song of
the Year honors from the Country Music
Association.
Growing up on a Sacramento farm,
Greenwood was musical at a very early
age, teaching himself how to play
saxophone when he was nine years old. In
his preadolescence, he played in a
western dance band called My Moondreams.
At the age of 13, he moved with his
recently remarried mother to Anaheim,
CA, but three years later he returned to
Sacramento to live with his
grandparents. Between the two moves, he
played in a variety of country and
Dixieland bands. Upon his return to
Sacramento, Greenwood joined Chester
Smith's band, which raised his profile
within California. Soon, Del Reeves
hired Greenwood to play saxophone, and
while he was with the singer, Lee
learned how to become a showman. In
1962, he formed his own band, a pop
combo named Apollo, and the group moved
to Las Vegas. Within five years, the
group was renamed the Lee Greenwood
Affair and relocated to Los Angeles,
where they made a handful of records for
Paramount. Once the record label went
out of business, Greenwood was asked to
join the fledgling Rascals by Felix
Cavaliere and Dino Danelli, but he
declined. Instead, he moved back to Las
Vegas, where he worked as an arranger,
backup vocalist, and lounge pianist, as
well accompanied strippers by playing
organ. By 1973, he became the lead
singer and bassist in the Bare Touch of
Vegas revue, while he continued to work
as a blackjack dealer at the Tropicana.
He held down both jobs for much of the
mid-'70s.
By the end of the '70s, he was
singing in lounges in Reno, which is
where he met Larry McFaden, who was then
leading Mel Tillis' touring band.
Greenwood was initially reluctant to
record, but he eventually travelled to
Nashville, where he recorded a set of
demos. Shortly afterward, McFaden became
his manager and helped the singer sign a
deal with MCA Records in June of 1981.
Four months later, his first single, "It
Turns Me Inside Out," climbed into the
country Top 20. Greenwood's initial
success was helped enormously by the
similarity between his husky voice --
toughened up by years of working in
smoky casinos -- and that of Kenny
Rogers. In March of 1982, his second
single, "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her
Hands," climbed into the Top Ten,
beginning a streak of 19 Top Ten singles
that ran virtually uninterrupted for the
next six years. During that time, he
racked up no less than seven number one
hits: "Somebody's Gonna Love You"
(1983), "Going, Going, Gone" (1984),
"Dixie Road" (1985), "I Don't Mind the
Thorns (If You're the Rose)" (1985),
"Don't Underestimate My Love for You"
(1986), "Hearts Aren't Made to Break
(They're Made to Love)" (1986), and "Mornin'
Ride" (1986). In addition to his solo
hits, Greenwood had a number of hit
duets with Barbara Mandrell, including
the number three hit "To Me" (1984).
None of Greenwood's music was close to
pure country -- it was adult
contemporary country-pop, in the vein of
Rogers. Unlike Rogers, however,
Greenwood rarely crossed over into the
pop charts, and when he did, it was only
in 1983, when slickly produced
country-pop could make inroads on adult
contemporary radio. His popularity was
at its peak during the mid-'80s, when
his conservative music and
neo-conservative lyrics managed to
capture the imagination of the nation;
though "God Bless the U.S.A." only
peaked at number seven on the country
charts in 1984, it became a recurring
theme song for several Republican
political campaigns during the Reagan
and Bush administrations. Furthermore,
Greenwood won many popularity polls and
awards from various country music
magazines and associations.
Greenwood switched labels in 1990,
signing to Capitol Records. His initial
singles for the label, "Holdin' a Good
Hand" and "We've Got It Made," were
successful, but his audience steadily
declined during the first half of the
decade. Though he tried to retain his
audience through patriotic work during
the 1991 Gulf War -- even earning the
Congressional Medal of Honor Society's
Patriot Award and a Points of Light
Foundation Award -- he couldn't
successfully battle the onslaught of
harder-edged, contemporary country
artists that overtook country radio in
the early '90s. By the middle of the
decade, he was no longer charting
singles, and he had begun re-recording
his biggest hits for a variety of
labels; he also continued to tour and
give concerts. In 2000 he attempted a
comeback with his new album, Same
River...Different Bridge. |
