Country singer Sonny James dies at 87

Country singer Sonny James, whose music went from rural Alabama to the moon, died Monday afternoon, according to longtime friend Gary Robble. He was 87.

As Kix Brooks said in 2006, the year Mr. James was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the singer was “an artist who really dominated his time in history.” His smooth 1956 recording of “Young Love” prefigured the rise of the Nashville sound, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he released 16 consecutive chart-topping singles.

Born James Hugh Loden on May 1, 1928, in Hackleburg, Ala., “Sonny” began performing as a child with his family. At age 3, he received his first mandolin, which was handmade by his father from a molasses bucket. The child would soon learn to play the guitar and fiddle, as well, and win fiddle championships as a teen.

The Loden family played on radio stations and in schoolhouses around the South, and during their travels, Mr. James met a young musician named Chet Atkins, who also would go on to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The two men later crossed paths once again in Music City.

In September 1950, Mr. James’ Alabama National Guard unit was sent to Korea. While he was stationed there, he began seriously writing songs. After leaving the service, he went to Nashville to pursue a career in music. He met up with Atkins, who introduced him to Ken Nelson of Capitol Records. Nelson suggested that he adopt the stage name Sonny James, which was easier for DJs and fans to remember. The singer would soon get the nickname “the Southern Gentleman”; as a soft-spoken and humble man with impeccable manners, Mr. James lived up to that description on stage and off.

"He was the ultimate gentleman," said Robble, whose vocal quartet, The Southern Gentlemen, recorded and toured with Mr. James from 1964-71. "He knew a lot of people, but when you were talking to him, the only person he knew was you. I was proud to be associated with him."

Brenda Lee, who toured with Mr. James and the duo Mickey and Sylvia, said she really got to know the "Young Love" singer when they starred on the country music television show, "The Ozark Jubilee," in the 1950s. The two became dear friends. She was a little girl — 9 or 10 years old — and he was an established star more than twice her age, but he was always unfailingly kind to the young singer.

"I didn't know that his nickname was the Southern Gentleman; I just knew that he was one of the nicest, sweetest, most down-to-earth people that I had ever met," Lee said. "Family was always first with him, and the career was second. ... I loved him for that."

Mr. James recorded his first songs for Capitol in summer 1952. Shortly after those sessions, he put his fiddle skills to use when he joined Jim and Jesse McReynolds in the studio and the bluegrass duo made its first Capitol recordings.

"He was a great singer, fiddler (and) guitar player," said Jesse McReynolds, who said that he and his brother later worked with several fiddlers who tried to match Mr. James' unique way of playing on those records, but they "never could quite get it."

McReynolds also fondly remembered Mr. James' sense of humor: "He had a trick fiddle that he used onstage. He'd say, 'We're going to do a fiddle tune,' and when he started to play it, the fiddle would fall apart," he laughed.

In early 1953, Mr. James released his debut single, “That’s Me Without You,” which would hit No. 9 on the charts. The music he released over the next three years, for the most part, was unsuccessful, but in late 1956, Mr. James recorded his breakthrough hit, the dreamy ballad “Young Love.” The sweet, earnest single spent nine weeks atop the country charts and crossed over to pop radio in early 1957. With its polished production and crooning vocals, “Young Love” would help open the door for the Nashville sound of the late 1950s and 1960s.

During the 1950s, Mr. James was a regular on “The Ozark Jubilee.” In 1961 he was honored with  a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He also appeared in multiple films, including “Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar,” “Nashville Rebel,” “Las Vegas Hillbillies” and “Hillbillies in a Haunted House,” and guested on “The Ed Sullivan Show” multiple times.

In 1962 Mr. James was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry, and five years later, he would begin an unprecedented streak of chart dominance. From 1967-71, he notched 16 straight No. 1 country singles on the Billboard charts, beginning with “Need You” and ending with “Here Comes Honey Again.”

Many of those — such as “Born to Be with You” and “Only the Lonely” — were covers of pop hits. Others, including “Since I Met You, Baby” and “It’s Just a Matter of Time,” were countrified covers of classic R&B songs previously recorded by artists such as Brook Benton and Etta James, a nod to his diverse musical tastes. Mr. James was a lifelong admirer of Nat King Cole. The two later met in the early 1960s when both were on Capitol Records; a photo on James' website shows the two men sitting side by side in the recording studio. In 1967 Mr. James co-hosted the first CMA Awards alongside Bobbie Gentry.

The 1970s found Mr. James pursuing several different projects. In 1971 he made a cassette tape for the three-man Apollo 14 crew to listen to during their mission. Upon their return to Earth, the astronauts gave Mr. James an American flag that they had brought with them on their moon flight. Mr. James also stepped out from behind the microphone to produce Marie Osmond’s 1973 debut album, “Paper Roses," and her two subsequent records. In 1977 Mr. James, inspired by previous visits to Tennessee State Prison, recorded an album there, “In Prison, In Person,” on which he was backed by a band of inmates.

In August 1983, Mr. James released his last single, “A Free Roamin’ Mind.” That year, he retired from performing.

An avid fisherman, Mr. James spent much of his retirement on the lake, briefly returning to the spotlight in 2006, when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

"I just more or less went about my career,” he said on the day of the Hall of Fame induction announcement. “To me the friends I've made over the years actually meant as much to me as the Hall of Fame. I'm very appreciative, and I value what the Hall of Fame is doing for so many artists."

Mr. James is survived by his beloved wife, Doris, whom he married in 1957. Funeral arrangements are not known at this time.

Reach Juli Thanki on Twitter @JuliThanki.