Thomas Baker Knight Jr. (July 4, 1933 – October 12, 2005) was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and musician. His best known compositions were "

Lonesome Town "Lonesome Town" is a song written by Baker Knight. A version sung by Ricky Nelson became a hit single in the United States, reaching #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #15 on the R&B chart in 1958. The song was featured on his 1959 album, '' ...

", "

The Wonder of You "The Wonder of You" is a song written by Baker Knight. It was originally recorded by Vince Edwards in 1958, but this recording has never been released. In an interview with a DJ from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ray Peterson told the story of how Bak ...

", and " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time". His songs have been recorded by

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, Dean Martin,

The Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. ...

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como,

Mickey Gilley Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 19 ...

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

and

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...

.Baker Knight at AllMusic
- accessed January 11, 2016

Life and career

He was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, to Thomas Baker Knight Sr. and his wife Mary (Obear) Knight. His father died in 1939 at the age of 32, and because of his mother's poor health Knight was raised mainly by relatives. He learned to play guitar while serving in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

, and after his discharge entered the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

, where he wrote music in his spare time. In 1956 he founded a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

group, Baker Knight and the Knightmares, with Shuler Brown (bass), A.D. Derby (keyboards), Bill Weinstein (drums), Glenn Lane (sax), and Nat Tortorici (sax). Their debut single, "Bop Boogie to the Blues", was released on Kit Records that year. The next release, "Bring My Cadillac Back", was a local hit and was picked up for national distribution by Decca Records, but radio stations refused to play it as it served as unpaid advertising for Cadillac cars. Decca held on to Knight and had him release three solo records featuring arrangements by

Ray Ellis Ray Ellis (July 28, 1923 – October 27, 2008) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor, and saxophonist. He was responsible for the orchestration in Billie Holiday's '' Lady in Satin'' (1958). Biography Raymond Spencer Ellis ...

: "Reelin' and Rockin' (Bippin' and Boppin' Over You)", "Just a Little Bit More", and "Love-A Love-A Love-A". None sold well, and Decca dropped his contract soon afterwards. Knight moved to Hollywood in 1958 in hopes of pursuing a career in acting, but was unsuccessful. He became friends with

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desir ...

and Cochran's girlfriend, songwriter

Sharon Sheeley Sharon Kathleen Sheeley (April 4, 1940 – May 17, 2002) was an American songwriter who wrote songs for Glen Campbell, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee, and Eddie Cochran. Biography Sheeley attended Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach, and ...

, who had written "Poor Little Fool" for

, and they helped him find work as a songwriter. Knight wrote "

", which became a hit for Nelson in 1958, as did the B-side, Knight's "

I Got a Feeling "I Got a Feeling" is a song recorded by American Motown vocal group Four Tops for their 1966 album, '' On Top''. It was written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier. In 1967, "I Got a Feeling" was covered ...

". Nelson continued to record Knight's songs, many of which became hits, including " Never Be Anyone Else But You", " Sweeter Than You", and "

I Wanna Be Loved "I Wanna Be Loved" (from the 1933 version of the 1931 revue '' Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt'') is a popular song with music by Johnny Green and lyrics by Edward Heyman and Billy Rose, published in 1933. Recorded versions The song is a standard, wi ...

". However, he refused to let Nelson record his tune "Just Relax", which he instead released himself as a solo single in 1959, with Cochran on guitar, for

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head of ...

. Neither this nor the next, "Pretty Little Girl", sold well and Coral dropped his contract. Knight then wrote "

" for Perry Como, but

Ray Peterson Ray Peterson (April 23, 1935 – January 25, 2005) was an American pop music, pop singing, singer who is best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her". He also scored numerous other hits, including "Corrine, Corrina" which was compose ...

recorded it instead at the behest of Como's arranger Dick Pierce, and the song became a hit in both the U.S. and UK.

later recorded it with even greater success. Knight continued to record solo with

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

, and Challenge, but never with much luck. He pursued his movie career, but he only appeared on screen once, in the 1966 B-movie, ''Swamp Country''. He had a small part as a strolling minstrel and sang several of his own songs. In 1966, Dean Martin picked up "

Somewhere There's a Someone __NOTOC__ ''Somewhere There's a Someone'' is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin, produced by Jimmy Bowen. This was the first of five albums that Martin released in 1966, that year he also starred in three films, and appeared in his own televi ...

", the first of eleven of Knight's songs he would cover. Frank Sinatra recorded a handful of Knight tunes, including "Anytime at All". Knight also wrote psychedelic music for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band in the late 1960s. In 1971, he teamed with producer

Jimmy Bowen James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, ''Mel & Nancy.'' Early life ...

and singers

Kim Carnes Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a sess ...

and

Mike Settle Michael Ward Settle (born March 20, 1941) is an American songwriter, journalist, broadcaster and singer. Settle began his musical career as a solo singer and a member of The New Christy Minstrels. His debut solo album ''Folk Sing Hallelujah'' ...

to create the bubblegum pop studio group

The Sugar Bears Sugar Bear is the advertising cartoon mascot of Post Super Sugar Crisp (later Golden Crisp) cereal. History Sugar Bear originally appeared in the 1940s as the mascot of Sugar Crisp (later known as Golden Crisp), a cereal produced by General Food ...

. An album, ''Presenting the Sugar Bears'', and three singles were released with one song, Knight's "You Are The One", reaching #51 on the ''Billboard'' charts. Knight turned to

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

in the 1970s, writing songs for

Ernest Ashworth Ernest Bert Ashworth (December 15, 1928 – March 2, 2009) was an American country music singer, broadcaster, and longtime Grand Ole Opry star. Signed to the Hickory label, he recorded two studio albums in his career and charted several singl ...

Hank Williams, Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

Dave & Sugar Dave & Sugar was a pop-styled American country music trio which enjoyed its peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. The trio consisted of lead singer Dave Rowland and initially on backing vocals, Vicki Hackeman and Jackie Frantz. Over time, the ...

, and

, whose No. 1 hit " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" won Knight the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

's Song of the Year in 1976. In 1985, Knight returned to Birmingham, suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and agoraphobia, and his output decreased considerably. In the 1990s, he set up his own home studio and self-released several solo albums through his website, including ''The Way I Hear It'', ''Music Is My Woman'', and ''Music for Romantic Dreamers'', the last one all instrumental. Knight published a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

entitled ''A Piece of the Big-Time (my songs - my success - my struggle for survival)'' in 2005 just before his death. Thomas Baker Knight Jr. died in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2005 at the age of 72. He was survived by his daughter, singer-actress

Tuesday Knight Tuesday Lynn Knight (born Monday, February 17, 1969) is an American actress, singer and designer. She is best known for her role as Kristen Parker in the 1988 film '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'', replacing Patricia Arquette i ...

, and his son, Dr. Thomas Baker Knight III.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Compilations

References

External resources

Label scans at www.45cat.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Baker 1933 births 2005 deaths People with chronic fatigue syndrome Writers from Birmingham, Alabama Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama Songwriters from Alabama American rockabilly musicians Jubilee Records artists Challenge Records artists RCA Victor artists Chess Records artists 20th-century American musicians Country musicians from Alabama Ramsay High School alumni