Royce Glenn Sutton (September 28, 1937 – April 17, 2007) 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, ...

songwriter, record producer, and one of the architects of the ''

countrypolitan The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough Honky tonk, honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruse ...

'' sound.

Biography

Sutton wrote or co-wrote many of

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

's early hits including, "

Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad ''Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad'' is a studio album by American country artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in May 1967 and contained ten tracks. The majority of the album was a collection of cover tunes Wynette recorded, including songs by Geor ...

", "

Take Me to Your World "Take Me to Your World" is a 1968 single written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton and recorded by Tammy Wynette. "Take Me to Your World" was Tammy Wynette's second number one on the country charts as a solo artist. The single stayed at number o ...

" (which would be the last song Wynette ever sang in concert before her death in 1998), "

I Don't Wanna Play House "I Don't Wanna Play House" is a song written by Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton. In 1967, the song was Tammy Wynette's first number one country song as a solo artist. "I Don't Wanna Play House" spent three weeks at the top spot and a total of ...

, " The Ways to Love a Man", "

Kids Say the Darndest Things ''Kids Say the Darndest Things'' is an American comedy series originally hosted by Bill Cosby that aired on CBS from January 9, 1998 to June 23, 2000. A revival hosted by Tiffany Haddish aired on ABC from October 6, 2019 to January 19, 2020. ABC ...

", and "

Bedtime Story A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".Dickson, Marguerite Stockm ...

". He also wrote the song "

What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me) "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)" is a song written by Glenn Sutton. The song's title is a reference to beer, specifically Schlitz beer, which for many years was advertised with the slogan, "The beer that made Milwauke ...

" (recorded by

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 made ...

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, and

Lynn Anderson Lynn Renée Anderson (September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden," was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charte ...

), as well as the David Houston classic " Almost Persuaded". Sutton won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for the latter composition. "Almost Persuaded" has been covered by artists from all genres of music, including R&B legend

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

. He also sang his own hit called "The Football Card" which nearly made the top forty on the Billboard Hot 100. Sutton is also well known for his personal and professional association with

, his wife from 1968 to 1977. He produced many of her hit recordings, including her signature-mega hit " (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden". The album, by the same name as the single, reached number one in 16 countries around the globe and was the biggest selling album by a female country artist from 1971 until 1997. Sutton received a

RIAA 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 ...

Platinum Award for producing " (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden". Although he did not write "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden", he wrote several of Anderson's number one hits. He was awarded numerous BMI and

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Awards for his hit compositions. Artists who have recorded Glenn Sutton penned songs, reads like a "who's who" in the recording industry. He was inducted into the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...

in 1999. Sutton died in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

on April 17, 2007, of a heart attack, aged 69.

References

External links

Bio at Nashville Songwriters FoundationPhotos
of Glenn's posted on Flickr.com. Many are pictures of Glenn, while others seem to be photos he took. 1937 births 2007 deaths People from Jackson Parish, Louisiana American country songwriters American male songwriters Record producers from Louisiana Songwriters from Louisiana Ace Records (United States) artists Grammy Award winners 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-songwriter-stub