Eddy Arnold Dies At 89
One of the world’s most successful and oldest country singers Eddy Arnold died Thursday morning just a few days before he turned 90. He died at a care facility close to Nashville, TN.
Arnold was viewed as one of the most successfull country singer in history with his award winning songs like “Make the World Go Away” - which was just one of his many songs that made it No. 1 on the top country hits list. He was a folks singer - but at the same time he had an air of sophistication that made him the pioneer of what has been called “The Nashville Sound” otherwise known as “countrypolitan” - the mix of country and pop music styles. This new success helped to bring forth other famous singers like Kenny Rogers.
“I sing a little country, I sing a little pop and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together,” he said in 1970.
In 1966 Arnold was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. A year later he became the first person to recieve the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.
When he thought back on his career, he said he never copied anyone. “I really had an idea about how I wanted to sing from the very beginning,” he said. He revitalized his career in the 1960s by adding strings, a controversial move for a country artist back then. “I got to thinking, if I just took the same kind of songs I’d been singing and added violins to them, I’d have a new sound,” he told The Associated Press in 2002.
“They cussed me, but the disc jockeys grabbed it. … The artists began to say, `Aww, he’s left us.’ Then within a year, they were doing it!” Among his recent albums were “Looking Back,” 2002, and “After All These Years,” 2005.