Terry Nelson Skinner (born August 24, 1947) is an American former disc jockey from Russellville, Alabama, United States. Together with a group of

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s, Nelson released a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1971 under the name C. Company featuring Terry Nelson. The single, entitled "

Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley "The Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley" is a 1971 spoken word recording with vocals by Terry Nelson and music by pick-up group C-Company. Inspiration and meaning The song is set to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". It offers a heroic de ...

", was a spoken-word recording with a musical background which defended William Calley and the massacre at My Lai, for which Calley was

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

ed in 1970–71. Originally issued on a small local label, Quickit Records, it was reissued nationally on Plantation Records in April 1971. The single reached No. 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts and No. 49 on

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

. This disc sold over one million copies in just four days, and received a gold disc awarded by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on 15 April 1971. It went on to sell nearly two million copies. That same year, C. Company and Terry Nelson released an album, ''Wake Up America'', also on Plantation.

References

Bibliography

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in Wau ...

, ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits''. 7th edn, 2000,

External links

Terry Nelson
Alabama Music Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Terry 1947 births American radio DJs Musicians from Alabama People from Russellville, Alabama Living people