Chanteur Country US né le 17 Octobre 1941 à Portsmouth (Ohio). Earl Thomas Conley est décédé le 10 Avril 2019 à Nashville (Tennessee).

Early in his career, Earl Thomas Conley's music picked up the label "thinking man's country." An accurate description -- Conley looks into the heart and soul of his characters, finding the motivations for their actions and beliefs. In the process, the astute listener can find fragments of himself/herself in nearly any Conley creation. Born into poverty in Portsmouth, OH, Conley struggled with the limits of his social class. He aspired to be a painter or actor, but found that his aspirations for music lingered after the other interests died down. Influenced by everyone from Hank Williams to the Eagles, Conley delved into the details of writing, trying to learn the craft by following the rules and regulations of the Music Row songwriting community. Eventually, torn by the limits of the "law," he found his own niche by breaking many of those same rules. His public self-analysis -- in both his songs and his interviews -- has proven inspirational to some, bothersome to others, but Conley has evolved stylistically, even though the "thinking man" label continues to follow him. He's admittedly chased a more commercial sound, with a certain degree of success, but the run for the dollars also put him into a financial bind. He spent part of the late '80s and early '90s overworking himself to pay off his debts. Although he has been a hitmaker for more than a decade, his contributions to country have often gone almost unnoticed.
The son a railroad man, Conley left his Portsmouth home at the age of 14, once his father lost his job. After living with his older sister in Ohio, he rejected a scholarship to art school, deciding to join the Army instead. While he was in the military, he fell in love with country music. Following his discharge, he worked a number of blue-collar jobs while he played Nashville clubs at night. Conley wasn't making any headway, so he relocated to Huntsville, AL, where he worked in a steel mill. While in Huntsville, he met Nelson Larkin, a producer who helped the fledgling singer sign to the independent label GRT in 1974. Over the next two years, he released four singles on the label -- which were all credited to "Earl Conley" -- and each one scraped the lower regions of the country charts. While his chart success was respectable for a developing artist, he was soon eclipsed by other artists who were having hits with his songs. Nelson Larkin gave his brother Billy "Leave It Up to Me," which became the first Earl Thomas Conley song to reach the Top 20. It was followed shortly afterward by Mel Street's number 13 hit "Smokey Mountain Memories" and Conway Twitty's version of "This Time I've Hurt Her More (Than She Loves Me)," which reached number one in early 1976. By that time, he had moved to Nashville, where he was writing for Nelson Larkin's publishing house.
In 1977, Conley signed with Warner Bros., and in early 1979 he had his first Top 40 hit, "Dreamin's All I Do." By the end of the year, he had begun performing and releasing records under his full name, Earl Thomas Conley. None of his Warner singles became big hits, and he left the label at the end of 1979. After spending six months reassessing his career and musical direction, he signed to Sunbird Records and began working with Nelson Larkin again. Conley's first single for Sunbird, "Silent Treatment," was an immediate Top Ten hit late in 1980, and it was quickly followed by the number one "Fire and Smoke" early in 1981. Following his breakthrough success, RCA signed Conley to a long-term deal. "Tell Me Why," his first single for the label, reached number ten in late 1981, followed shortly afterward by the number 16 "After the Love Slips Away." In the summer of 1982, "Heavenly Bodies" kicked off a string of 21 straight Top Ten hits that ran for seven years. During that time, he had a remarkable 17 number one hits, including a record-setting four number one singles from 1984's Don't Make It Easy for Me -- it was the first time any artist in any genre had four number one hits from the same album. Though he had some financial and Vocals problems during the mid-'80s, the hits never stopped coming during the entire decade.
By the end of the '80s, he had stopped working with Nelson Larkin, preferring to collaborate with Randy Scruggs, which brought his music back to his country and R&B roots. His sales took a dramatic dip during 1990 due to the rise of contemporary country, but he had two new Top Ten hits, "Shadow of a Doubt" and the Keith Whitley duo "Brotherly Love." The singles set the stage for the harder-edged country of his 1991 album, Yours Truly. Despite receiving some of the best reviews of Conley's career, the record was a commercial failure, and RCA dropped him shortly after its release. For much of the '90s, he was without a record label, yet he continued to give concerts and to tour, finally landing on Intersound for 1998's Perpetual Emotion.
Earl Thomas Conley died on April 10, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Thomas_Conley

Talents : Vocals, Songwriter, Guitar

Style musical : Contemporary Country, Traditional Country, Country-Pop

https://youtu.be/0ChlzWj5PXo

Years in activity :

DISCOGRAPHY

Singles

Albums

12/1980	LP 12" SUNBIRD ST-50105 (US)		BLUE PEARL - Too Much Noise (Trucker's Waltz) / Dreamin' All I Do / Stranded On A Dead End Street / You Don't Have To Go Too Far / Fire And Smoke / Played This Game Enough / Blue And Green / Silent Treatment / Middle Age Madness / This Time I Hurt Her More
10/1981	LP 12" RCA VICTOR AHL1-4135 (US)		FIRE AND SMOKE - Fire And Smoke / Silent Treatment / Too Much Noise / This Time I've Hurt Her More Than She Loves Me / Smokey Mountain Memories / Tell Me Why / After The Love Slips Away / Your Love Is Just For Strangers / Like Cinderella / As Low As You Can Go
081982	LP 12" RCA VICTOR AHL1-4348 (US)		SOMEWHERE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG - Heavenly Bodies / Don't Get Along With The Blues / This Ain't No Way To Be / If It Ain't Something (You Give Me) / Highway Home / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / We've Got All Night / Bottled Up Blues / I Have Loved You Girl (But Not Like This Before) / Man Inside Of Me
06/1983	LP 12" RCA VICTOR AHL1-4713 (US)		DON'T MAKE IT EASY FOR ME - Don't Make It Easy For Me / Your Love's On The Line / Holding Her And Loving You / You Can't Go On / Crowd Around The Corner / Ball And Chain / Angel In Disguise / Under Control / Changes Of Love / Home So Fine
09/1984	LP 12" RCA VICTOR AHL1-5175 (US)		TREADIN' WATER - Too Hot To Handle / Love Don't Care (Whose Heart It Breaks) / Labor Of Love / Your Love Says All There Is / Love's On The Move Again / Chance Of Lovin' You / Honor Bound / Treadin' Water / Feels Like A Saturday Night / Turn This Bus Around
09/1985	LP 12" RCA VICTOR AHL1-7032 (US)		GREATEST HITS - Nobody Falls Like A Fool / Holding Her And Loving You / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / Angel In Disguise / Fire And Smoke / Once In A Blue Moon / I Have Loved You Girl (But Not Like This Before) / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Your Love's On The Line / Silent Treatment
09/1986	CD RCA 5619 (US)		TOO MANY TIMES - Too Many Times / I Can't Win For Losin' You / Dancin' With The Flame / Attracted To Pain / Many Forgiving Years / Right From The Start / That Was A Close One / I Need A Good Woman Bad / Preservation Of The Wild Life / If Leavin' Was Easy
1987	CD RCA 6700 (US)		BEST OF EARL THOMAS CONLEY, VOL. 1  - Fire And Smoke / Silent Treatment / Smokey Mountain Memories / Heavenly Bodies / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / I Haved Loved You Girl (But Not Like This Before) / Tell Me Why / After The Love Slips Away
04/1988	CD RCA 6824 (US)		THE HEART OF IT ALL - What She Is (Is A Woman In Love) / Love Out Load / What'd I Say / You Must Not Be Drinking Enough / No Chance No Dance / I Love The Way He Left You / Finally Friday / We Believe In Happy Endings / Too Far From The Heart Of It All / Carol
02/1990	CD RCA 2043 (US)		GREATEST HITS 2 - What She Is / That Was A Close One / Love Don't Care (Whose Heart It Breaks) / Who's Gonna Tell Her Goodbye / Love Out Loud / I Can't Win For Losing You / Bring Back Your Love To Me / What'd I Say / Chance Of Loving You / You Must Not Be Drinking Enough
07/1991	CD RCA 3116 (US)		YOURS TRULY - You Got Me Now / Brotherly Love / One Of Those Days / Hard Days And Honky Tonk Nights / Keep My Heart In Line / If Only Your Eyes Could Lie / Perfect Picture / Borrowed Money / Shadow Of A Doubt / I Wanna Be Loved Back
04/1996	CD RCA 66823 (US)		THE ESSENTIAL - Fire And Smoke / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / Heavenly Bodies / I Have Loved You Girl / Angel In Disguise / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Your Love's On The Line / Holding Her And Loving You  / That Was A Close One / I Can't Win For Losing You / Chance Of Lovin' You / Honor Bound / Love Don't Care / Nobody Falls Like A Fool / Once In A Blue Moon / Right From The Start / What She Is / Love Out Loud / What'd I Say / Brotherly Love
04/1998	CD INTERSOUND 9299 (US)		PERPETUAL EMOTION - I Ain't Crazy / It Should've Been Over By Now / Closer You Are / Scared Money Never Wins / You Don't Have To Live With It / Holding Her And Lovin' You / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Your Love's On The Line / Once In A Blue Moon / I Can't Win For Losing You
09/1998	CD BMG 44689 (US)		LOVE OUT LOAD - Love Out Loud / Silent Treatment / I Need A Good Woman Bad / Holding Her And Loving You / What She Is / Smokey Mountain Memories / Shadow Of A Doubt / Once In A Blue Moon / We've Got All Night / Feels Like A Saturday Night
09/1998	CD RCA 67715 (US)		SUPER HITS - I Can't Win For Losing You / Love Don't Care / Nobody Falls Like A Fool / Chance Of Lovin' You / Angel In Disguise / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Holding Her And Loving You / Your Love's On The Line / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / Fire And Smoke
03/2003	CD SMITH 2003 (US)		SHOULD'VE BEEN OVER BY NOW - It Should've Been Over By Now / Closer You Are / I Ain't Crazy / You Don't Have To Live With It / Holding Her And Lovin' You / Once In A Blue Moon / Scared Money Never Wins / Your Love's On The Line / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Don't Want To Be In Love Without You / I Can't Win For Losing You
05/2004	CD SMITH 5022 (US)		LIVE AT BILLY BOB'S TEXAS - Somewhere Between Right And Wrong / Your Love's On The Line / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Angel In Disguise / Chance Of Lovin' You / Hard Days And Honky Tonk Nights / What She Is (Is A Woman In Love) / Holding Her And Loving You / Once In A Blue Moon / Brotherly Love / Heavenley Bodies / What I'd Say / Fire And Smoke / Love Don't Care (Who's Heart It Breaks) / Shadow Of A Doubt / I Can't Win For Losin' You
2006	CD LEGACY 85342-2 (US)		16 BIGGEST HITS - Fire And Smoke / Love Don't Care (Whose Heart It Breaks) / What She Is (Is A Woman In Love) / Your Love's On The Line / Holding Her And Loving You / Don't Make It Easy For Me / Angel In Disguise / Chance Of Loving You / Love Out Loud / Nobody Falls Like A Fool / Once In A Blue Moon / I Can't Win For Losing You / Right From The Start / We Believe In Happy Endings (With Emmylou HARRIS) / What I'd Say / Somewhere Between Right And Wrong

© Rocky Productions 18/08/2012