Douglas Anderson Supernaw (September 26, 1960November 13, 2020) was an American
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, ...
artist. After several years performing as a local musician throughout the state of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, he signed with
BNA Records
BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, ...
in 1993.
Supernaw released four studio albums in his career: ''
Red and Rio Grande'' (1993), ''
Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Mind'' (1994), ''
You Still Got Me'' (1995), and ''Fadin' Renegade'' (1999). Between 1993 and 1996, he charted 11 singles on the ''
Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
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 ...
) charts, including "
I Don't Call Him Daddy", his only No. 1 single, in late 1993.
Biography
Doug Supernaw was born on September 26, 1960, in
Bryan, Texas
Bryan is a city and the county seat of Brazos County, Texas, United States. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley ( East and Central Texas). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 83,980. Bryan borders the city of Colleg ...
.
He grew up in Inwood Forest, and was an avid golfer and member of his high school golf team. His mother, a fan of country music, exposed him to acts such as
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...
and
Gene Watson
Gary Gene Watson (born October 11, 1943) is an American country music singer. He is most famous for his 1975 hit "Love in the Hot Afternoon," his 1981 No. 1 hit " Fourteen Carat Mind," and his signature 1979 song " Farewell Party." Watson's l ...
, by whose works he would later be influenced.
Supernaw later attended college on a
golfing
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping w ...
scholarship.
After dropping out of college in 1979, he briefly worked on an
oil rig
{{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox
An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling.
Kinds of oil rig include:
* Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling
* Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling ...
before serving as a musician in local bands.
He moved to
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
in 1987, where he found work as a session songwriter. After four years in Nashville, he moved back to Texas, where he founded a band called Texas Steel.
1993–1995: BNA Records
An
A&R executive for
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
discovered Supernaw, and signed him to the label's BNA Entertainment (now
BNA Records
BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, ...
) division in 1993.
That year, Supernaw released his debut album, ''
Red and Rio Grande''. Overall, four singles were released from the album, starting with "Honky Tonkin' Fool", which did not enter Top 40 on the ''Billboard'' country music charts. "Reno", the second single, reached Top 5 soon afterward, while its follow-up, "
I Don't Call Him Daddy" (previously a No. 86 single in 1988 for
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...
), became Supernaw's only Number One single by the end of the year.
The album went on to achieve gold certification in the United States.
A series of injuries nearly ended Supernaw's career after his first album's release. After recovering from a broken neck suffered while
surfing, he was involved in a head-on car collision. Finally, he was hospitalized after a nearly-fatal case of
food poisoning.
Once he had recovered from the food poisoning, he recorded his second album for BNA, 1994's ''
Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Mind''. Of the album's three singles, only the
Dennis Linde
Dennis Linde (pronounced LIN-dy, March 18, 1943December 22, 2006) was an American music songwriter based in Nashville who has had over 250 of his songs recorded. He is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, "Burning Love". Rarely w ...
-penned "
What'll You Do About Me
"What'll You Do About Me" is a country music song written by Dennis Linde. It was originally recorded in 1984 by McGuffey Lane and then by Steve Earle. It has also been recorded by Randy Travis on his 1987 album, '' Always & Forever'', The Forest ...
" (previously a single in 1984 for
Steve Earle, and in 1992 for
the Forester Sisters
The Forester Sisters were an American country music vocal group consisting of sisters Kathy, June, Kim, and Christy Forester. Having performed together locally in their native Lookout Mountain, Georgia, since the 1970s, the four sisters began si ...
, and recorded by
Randy Travis on his 1987 album ''
Always & Forever'') entered Top 40 on the country music charts. Shortly after the second album's release, he exited BNA's roster.
Also in 1994, Supernaw was nominated for Top New Male Vocalist by 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 ...
, along with
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Montgomery began singing with his brother Eddie, who would later become known as one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, before beginning his major-label solo c ...
and
Clay Walker
Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You", which reached Number One on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Song ...
, but lost to Montgomery.
1995–1997: Giant / Sony BMG Records
In 1995, he was signed to
Giant Records
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
, where he recorded and released his third major-label album, ''
You Still Got Me'', in 1996.
Although its first single, "Not Enough Hours in the Night", reached a peak of No. 3 on the country singles charts, neither of the album's other singles reached Top 40, and he left Giant Records not long afterward.
[ He also made an appearance on '' Stars and Stripes Vol. 1'', a 1996 compilation album issued by ]the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
. It featured the band performing their own songs along with other country music artists; Supernaw contributed to the track "Long Tall Texan". His first compilation album, entitled ''The Encore Collection'', was issued by Sony BMG Special Products in 1997.
1999: Tack Records
Supernaw's third recording contract was with the small, independent Tack label, on which he released ''Fadin' Renegade'' on August 31, 1999. The album's two singles, the title track and "21–17", did not enter the country music charts.
2016–2020: B&G Records
Supernaw returned to music in 2016 in local venues in his home state of Texas. Also returning to the recording studio in 2017 on the independent B&G Records label,[ Supernaw re-recorded his hits as ''Greatest Hits'', which was released on April 1, 2017. The album included two new songs: "Here's My Heart" and "The Company I Keep".
]
Death
Supernaw announced on February 4, 2019, that he had been diagnosed with stage IV lung
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...
and bladder cancer
Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...
. He died at his home on November 13, 2020, at age 60.
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Other charted songs
Music videos
Nominations
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 ...
* 1993 Top New Male Vocalist
References
External links
Official website
*
*
Entry at 45cat.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Supernaw, Doug
1960 births
2020 deaths
Country musicians from Texas
American country singer-songwriters
Deaths from lung cancer
Deaths from bladder cancer
Deaths from cancer in Texas
People from Bryan, Texas
Singer-songwriters from Texas
BNA Records artists
Giant Records (Warner) artists
American male singer-songwriters
20th-century American singers
20th-century American male singers