Product Code Database
Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 (1993). 9780851127262, Guinness Publishing. ISBN 9780851127262 – August 22, 2003) was an American who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.
Tillman recorded as a featured vocalist with Selph's Blue Ridge Playboys in 1938, the same year Floyd scored his first major songwriting hit, "It Makes No Difference Now", giving him his own Decca Records recording contract. Jimmie Davis purchased the song from Floyd for $300, the co-rights to which he got back 28 years later.
Tillman's only No. 1 one song as a singer was "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven". It reached the top of the charts in 1944. Previously, he had reached No. 2 with "I'm Gonna Change All My Ways". His 1944 hit, "Each Night At Nine", struck a chord with lonely servicemen during World War II. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose played it heavily to encourage desertion.
A big hit for Tillman and also for Jimmy Wakely was 1948's "I Love You So Much It Hurts". His 1949 "Slippin' Around", one of the first country western "cheating" songs, was a hit for Tillman as well as Ernest Tubb, Texas Jim Robertson and the duo of Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely. Tillman had another successful song with his own answer, "I'll Never Slip Around Again", as again did the Whiting-Wakely duo. He slowed down on his performing in the early 1950s, although he appeared on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in 1958 and 1959.
Tillman's final album, recorded in 2002 and 2003 titled The Influence, paired him with country music artists who were influenced by his style and performing: Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Leona Williams, Dolly Parton, Justin Trevino, Ray Price, Frankie Miller, Hank Thompson, Connie Smith, Lawton Williams, Mel Tillis, Darrell McCall, Johnny Bush and George Jones. The project, released in April 2004, featured liner notes by Dr. Bill Malone, Bill Mack, Hank Thompson and Willie Nelson. It was produced by Justin Trevino on Heart of Texas Records.
He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.
Floyd Tillman died in August 2003, at the age of 88.
| 1944 | "They Took the Stars Out of Heaven" | 1 |
| "G.I. Blues" | 5 | |
| "Each Night at Nine" | 4 | |
| 1946 | "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin" | 2 |
| 1948 | "I Love You So Much It Hurts" | 5 |
| 1949 | "Please Don't Pass Me By" | 14 |
| "Slippin' Around" | 5 | |
| "I'll Never Slip Around Again" | 6 | |
| "I Gotta Have My Baby Back" | 4 | |
| 1960 | "It Just Tears Me Up" | 29 |
| Decca 5696 |
| Decca 5696 |
| Decca 5801 |
| Decca 5741 |
| Decca 5801 |
| RCA Victor 20-7157 A-side |
| RCA Victor 20-7157 B-side |
| Columbia Records 20641 |
| Musicor Records 1355 A-side |
| Decca 6090 |
| Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Ray Price, Rex Allen, Columbia Records 20615 |
| Decca 6090 |
| Decca 6104 |
| Columbia Records 20026 |
| Decca 5845 |
| Columbia Records 20615 |
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