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BIOGRAPHY

Photograph © Jim Glaser

Jimmy Payne - the man, his world and his music

Jimmy Payne is an entertainer who comes from the heart of rural America.

He was born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri and is the youngest of eleven children.

He learned to play the guitar at the age of sixteen and whilst still in his teens he and his niece Betty had their own radio show on KTCB in Malden, Missouri.

His teenage dreams were mostly filled with country songs, and visions of living in Nashville, while dragging a nine foot cotton sack through rows of Southeast Missouri cotton fields. Picking cotton was a hard way to earn money, however, commonplace in those days.

In 1966 he signed a five-year contract with Epic Records. His first single with them – "What Does It Take" - became a hit in a few markets and sold several thousand records but never gathered enough momentum to break into the Billboard national charts. Six months later his close friend Jim Glaser was working on a new song and asked Jimmy to help finish it. They worked on it all night and by morning it was finished. In a couple weeks Jimmy recorded it for his second single under the direction of legendary producer Billy Sherrill. That song was "Woman, Woman" and a couple of months later his record was playing on a radio station in Los Angeles when Columbia Records producer Jerry Fuller heard it and took it to a group he had just signed - Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. The song has since been recorded around a hundred times.

In 1969 Jimmy recorded the Dick Feller song "L.A.Angels" taking it to number 21 in the national charts. Other national charts records were "Ramblin' Man," "Where Has All The Love Gone," "Tonight's The Night Miss Sally Testifies" and "Turnin' My Love On."

Prestigious venues Jimmy has played include the Grand Ole Opry, the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, the Wheeling Jamboree in West Virginia, the Wembley Festival and the Peterborough Festival in England.

In 1974 and 1975 he was voted "Most Promising Artist" to the British audiences by Billboard/Music week.

Also in 1975 he graced the British Pop Charts with a Hoyt Axton song titled "Sweet Fantasy."

Jimmy's international success is well documented with tours in Japan, the Philippines, Norway, the Netherlands, Great Britain and South Korea.

As a songwriter Jimmy Payne has had songs recorded by Charley Pride, Ray Price, Bill Anderson, Glen Campbell, Grandpa Jones, Jim Glaser, Tompall and the Glaser Brothers, Cal Smith, Connie Smith, Jo-El Sonnier, Jeanne Pruett, Tammy Wynette, Dottie West, Daniel O'Donnell, Frank Ifield, Frank Jennings and many others.

Charley Pride had a number one million selling hit with "My Eyes Can Only See As Far As You" that was written by Jimmy and Naomi Martin.

Jimmy has recorded for Epic, Vanguard, Veejay, RCA, Jasmine, Ocean, Word, Cinnamon, Lyco, Ric, Sounds Upon Cumberland, Kik and K-Ark.

In 1969 Jimmy married his long-time sweetheart Virginia (Jo) and they are still living in the same home they bought the year that they married. The have a lovely daughter, Amanda who, with her husband Matt, lives close by.

His latest CD "When Mama Prayed" (released February 2003) marks the ninth album project for Jimmy.

Jimmy Payne The Man, His World & His Music

BIOGRAPHY