American husband-and-wife music duo
Felice Bryant
(born
Matilda Genevieve Scaduto
; August 7, 1925 ? April 22, 2003) and
Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant
(
;
[1]
February 13, 1920 ? June 25, 1987) were an
American
husband-and-wife
country music
and pop
songwriting
team. They were best known for songs such as "
Rocky Top
," "
We Could
" (credited solely to Felice),
[2]
"
Love Hurts
" (credited solely to Boudleaux),
[2]
and numerous hits by the
Everly Brothers
, including "
All I Have to Do Is Dream
" (credited solely to Boudleaux),
[2]
"
Bye Bye Love
",
[1]
and "
Wake Up Little Susie
".
Beginnings
[
edit
]
Boudleaux Bryant was born in
Shellman, Georgia
, in 1920 and attended local schools as a child. He trained as a classical violinist. Although he performed with the
Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra
during its 1937?38 season, he had more interest in country fiddling. Bryant joined
Hank Penny
and his Radio Cowboys, an Atlanta-based western music band.
[3]
[4]
Felice was born in Milwaukee in 1925 to an ethnic Sicilian family, and had written lyrics set to traditional Italian tunes. During
World War II
, she sang and directed shows at the local
USO
.
[5]
In 1945, Bryant met the 19 year-old Matilda Genevieve Scaduto, (whom he called Felice), when he was performing at the Schroeder Hotel, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her home town, where she was working as an elevator operator.
Bryant and Scaduto eloped five
[6]
days after meeting.
[5]
She has said that she "recognized" him immediately; she had seen his face in a dream when she was eight years old, and had "looked for him forever".
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" was biographical for Felice.
Songwriting career
[
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]
During the first years of their marriage, the Bryants struggled financially, living in a
mobile home
, where they wrote more than 80 songs. They tried to sell their compositions to a number of country music artists but were either ignored or rejected until
Little Jimmy Dickens
recorded their song "Country Boy." It went to No. 7 on the country chart in 1948 and opened the door to a working relationship with
Fred Rose
at
Acuff-Rose Music
in
Nashville, Tennessee
.
In 1950, the Bryants moved to Nashville to work full-time at songwriting. Some of their compositions from the early 1950s included the swinging "Sugar Beet" (recorded by
Moon Mullican
) and the bluesy "Midnight" (recorded by
Red Foley
).
The Bryants wrote more songs for Dickens as well as for country artist
Carl Smith
. At the same time, they released four 45-rpm singles of their own to modest success.
Beginning in 1957, the Bryants came to national prominence in both country and pop music when they wrote a string of very successful songs for
the Everly Brothers
[1]
and hits for other singers such as
Roy Orbison
and
Buddy Holly
. Their compositions were recorded by many artists from a variety of musical genres, including
Lynn Anderson
,
Tony Bennett
,
Frankie Laine
,
Sonny James
,
Eddy Arnold
,
Bob Moore
,
Charley Pride
,
Nazareth
,
Jim Reeves
,
Leo Sayer
,
Jerry Lee Lewis
,
Simon & Garfunkel
,
Sarah Vaughan
, The
Grateful Dead
,
Elvis Costello
,
Count Basie
,
Dean Martin
,
Ray Charles
,
Gram Parsons
,
Joan Jett
, and
Bob Dylan
. (Dylan's
Self Portrait
album has a song by Boudleaux and another he co-wrote with Felice.)
In 1962, The Bryants wrote "Too Many Chicks," a song that became a hit for Leona Douglas, the first African-American woman to record as a
country music
singer.
[7]
The Bryants eventually moved to a house not far from Nashville on
Old Hickory Lake
in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near friends
Roy Orbison
and
Johnny Cash
. In 1978, they moved to
Gatlinburg
, Tennessee. They had often stayed at The Gatlinburg Inn, where they wrote numerous songs, including "
Rocky Top
." They purchased the Rocky Top Village Inn in the town next to the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
. In 1979, they released their own album called
A Touch of Bryant.
"
Rocky Top
", written in 1967, was adopted as a state song by Tennessee in 1982,
[8]
and as the unofficial fight song for the University of Tennessee sports teams. The Bryants wrote more than 6,000 songs, some 1,500 of which were recorded.
[5]
During their career, the Bryants earned 59
BMI
country, pop, and
R&B
music awards. In 1972, they were inducted into the
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
, in 1986 into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame
,
[8]
and in 1991 into both the
Country Music Hall of Fame
and the
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
.
Boudleaux Bryant is the third most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the
UK Singles Chart
, and Felice Bryant is the 21st.
[9]
Their works are present in the House of Bryant, which is located in
Gatlinburg
. From September 2019 to August 2020, their artifacts were on exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Deaths
[
edit
]
Boudleaux Bryant died in 1987. Felice Bryant remained active writing songs.
In 1991, the Nashville Arts Foundation honored her with its Living Legend Award.
She died in 2003.
They are interred together in the
Woodlawn Memorial Park
, in Nashville.
Selected list of songs
[
edit
]
Little Jimmy Dickens
[
edit
]
Everly Brothers
[
edit
]
"Wake Up, Little Susie" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream" scored high on
Billboard
'
s "Hot 100" Pop, C&W, and R&B lists. Both charted at No. 1 in all three categories, the latter in all three at the same time.
[10]
Buddy Holly
[
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]
Compton Brothers
[
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]
Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris
[
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]
Emmylou Harris
[
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]
- "Sleepless Nights"
- "Like Strangers"
- "Love Hurts"
Ricky Van Shelton
[
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]
Johnny O'Keefe
[
edit
]
Other artists
[
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]
Various songs of theirs, especially "All I Have to Do Is Dream", "Bye Bye, Love", "Love Hurts" and "Wake Up, Little Susie", have been covered by numerous other artists over the years. "Rocky Top" is played by the
Pride of the Southland Band
at University of Tennessee sporting events.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Gilliland, John
(1969).
"Show 9 ? Tennessee Firebird: American country music before and after Elvis. [Part 1]"
(audio)
.
Pop Chronicles
.
University of North Texas Libraries
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
"Renowned Songwriter Felice Bryant Dies At 77"
. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). April 22, 2003
. Retrieved
March 8,
2018
.
- ^
"Felice and Boudleaux Bryant Biography"
.
Alancackett.com
. Retrieved
July 22,
2021
.
- ^
"Country Music | Del Bryant Biography"
.
Pbs.org
. Retrieved
July 22,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Felice Bryant"
, Songwriters Hall of Fame, accessed January 1, 2021
- ^
"The story of legendary songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant"
.
performingsongwriter.com
. Archived from
the original
on February 4, 2012
. Retrieved
May 22,
2022
.
- ^
"Music Week - Spotlight Singles of the Week"
.
Billboard
. Internet Archive. November 10, 1962. p.
48
. Retrieved
July 12,
2015
.
leona douglas jealous heart.
- ^
a
b
c
Colin Larkin
, ed. (1993).
The Guinness Who's Who of Fifties Music
(First ed.).
Guinness Publishing
. pp. 56/7.
ISBN
0-85112-732-0
.
- ^
"CHART GALLERY 10 CHARTS 41?61"
. Dave McAleer. Archived from
the original
on March 18, 2014
. Retrieved
July 26,
2014
.
- ^
BPI Communications and Joel Whitburn's Record Research Publications
- ^
[1]
[
permanent dead link
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Kingsbury, Paul. (1998). "Felice and Boudleaux Bryant". In
The Encyclopedia of Country Music
. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. pp. 63?64.
External links
[
edit
]
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Artists
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Felice Bryant
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Boudleaux Bryant
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