Wilma Burgess (born Wilma Charlene Burgess; June 11, 1939 – August 26, 2003) 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, ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

. She rose to fame in the mid-1960s and charted fifteen singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' C&W charts between 1965 and 1975.

Background

Wilma Burgess was born and raised in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, United States. Following high school graduation she proceeded to

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

DeLand, Florida DeLand is a city in central Florida. It is the county seat of Volusia County. The city sits approximately north of the central business district of Orlando, and approximately west of the central business district of Daytona Beach. As of the 2020 ...

studying physical education. She had no interest in a musical career - although she had displayed her natural talent performing as a pop singer on local television - until hearing

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

in concert awakened her passion for country music. In 1960, a songwriter friend of Burgess persuaded her to go to

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 ...

to record some demos of his compositions. One of the publishers Burgess sang for asked to manage her singing career and Burgess cut her first single in 1962 for the United Artists label. Eventually Burgess came to the attention of

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...

, who heard in Burgess' voice the potential for a successor to the recently deceased

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

, whom Bradley had produced. Bradley arranged for Burgess' signing with

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

where she had her first session in June 1964.

Career peak

After three unsuccessful single releases, Bradley had Burgess record the

Ray Griff John Raymond David Griff (April 22, 1940 – March 9, 2016) was a Canadian country music singer and songwriter, born in Vancouver and raised in Toronto. His songwriting credits reached over 2500 songs, many of which were recorded by Nashville's t ...

song "

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

" on 24 September 1965: the track proved to be Burgess' breakout hit reaching No. 7 C&W. Burgess' expertise with teary ballads was further exemplified with the follow-ups "

Don't Touch Me "Don't Touch Me" is a song written by Hank Cochran. It was originally written for and recorded by American country artist Jeannie Seely. The song was released as a single on Monument Records in March 1966 and became a major ''Billboard'' country ...

" (#12 C&W) and "

Misty Blue Misty may refer to: Music * ''Misty'' (Ray Stevens album), an album by Ray Stevens featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Richard "Groove" Holmes album), an album by Richard "Groove" Holmes featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" ...

" (#4), and logically her successful versions of these C&W classic tunes would have consolidated Burgess' position as a major player on the Nashville scene. However, Burgess' versions of both "Don't Touch Me" and "Misty Blue" were both overshadowed, the first by the concurrent release of a more successful version of "Don't Touch Me" by

Jeannie Seely Marilyn Jeanne Seely (born July 6, 1940) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She also has several acting credits and published a book. Seely found success with the Grammy Award-winning hit "Don't Touch Me" (1966) ...

- for whom

Hank Cochran Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy ...

(then Seely's husband) had written the song. Then "Misty Blue" - handed down to Burgess after being rejected by

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only ...

- was shortly established as a trademark song for Burgess' prime influence

, whose version in the spring of 1967 not only reached No. 3 C&W but became a regional pop hit reaching No. 57 nationally.

1967 on

Continuing to record with Owen Bradley, Burgess placed seven more singles on the C&W chart but only the first two of these: "Fifteen Days" (#24) and "Tear Time" (#15) both 1967 reached the Top 40. Burgess association with Bradley and Decca Records ended in 1971; that same year she signed with Shannon a label owned by

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

Enterprises (Burgess was a close friend of Reeves' widow Mary Reeves). Five of Burgess' single releases on Shannon appeared on the C&W chart with the 1973 duet with Bud Logan "Wake Me Into Love" providing a one-off return to the Top 40 at No. 14. In 1975 Burgess left Shannon signing with

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 ...

, where her uneventful tenure lasted until 1978. In 1982, she ended her recording career with the album ''Could I Have This Dance'' on 51West a

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

label. Later in the decade Burgess opened the Hitching Post - described as Nashville's first women-only bar - where she regularly performed. Burgess also worked on and off with Mary Reeves running the Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville. It has been noted by

Jim Ed Brown James Edward Brown (April 1, 1934 – June 11, 2015) was an American country singer-songwriter who achieved fame in the 1950s with his two sisters as a member of the Browns. He later had a successful solo career from 1965 to 1974, followed by ...

that Burgess was also a fine poker player, having taken both

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), m ...

and Tubb's bus driver's money while on tour together. Burgess was openly

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and preferred to record love songs with no gender-specific references. She did sometimes agree to record songs such as "Ain't Got No Man", on condition that her producer Owen Bradley let her record a song she liked but he did not.

Death

Wilma Burgess died unexpectedly on August 26, 2003 at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. She was 64, and had been hospitalized for a week for tests, and had seemed to be on the road to recovery.

Other information

*In 1965 Burgess purchased the Nashville home that had belonged to

; the purchase was made from Cline's widower Charlie Dick. Burgess had attended Cline's 30th birthday party and housewarming at the home six months before Cline's fatal accident. Burgess also purchased Jim Reeves' touring bus "Big Blue" in 1969. *Burgess appeared in the 1966 film '' The Las Vegas Hillbillys'' singing "Baby". The film which starred

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

was a B-movie that showcased several top C&W performers.

Discography

References

External links

Family monitored fan pageThe Wilma Burgess Discography by George Hewitt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Wilma 1939 births 2003 deaths American women country singers American country singer-songwriters American lesbian musicians LGBT singers from the United States LGBT songwriters LGBT people from Florida Musicians from Orlando, Florida Country musicians from Florida 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Florida 20th-century American women singers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century American women