Marion Worth (born Mary Ann Ward; July 4, 1930 – December 19, 1999) was an American country music singer. She was a popular performer on the ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a div ...

'' 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 th ...

, Tennessee. She also had several hits in the early 1960s.

Early life

Marion Worth was born in 1930 during the height of the depression. Her father, a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

worker, taught her how to play

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. At the age of 10, she won a local

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

contest for five weeks straight. Initially, she was not interested in pursuing a career in the music business, wanting to become a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

instead. Worth attended the Paul Hayne School, where she began her medical training. Worth accepted a job as a bookkeeper for a record company around the time she and her sister won another local talent contest. These events encouraged Worth to pursue a career in the music business. She made her

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

debut on

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, Texas station KLIF. She then returned to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, Alabama and worked at

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

WVOK and WAPI, and also appeared on WAPI-TV. She met established singer/songwriter Happy Wilson who became quite impressed with Marion's singing and began recording her.

Musical career

In 1959, Worth had her first hit, called "Are You Willing, Willie," on Cherokee Records. The song peaked in the top 15 of the country music charts. In 1960, her song "That's My Kind of Love" went to the top 5, becoming her biggest hit.

Jack Stapp Jack Stapp (December 8, 1912 – December 20, 1980) was an American country music manager. Biography Stapp was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. His family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1921, and Stapp was educated in that city. He beca ...

signed the young singer to the ''

s ''Friday Night Frollic''. As a result of her independent record label hits, she was signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

where she was produced by

Don Law Donald Firth Law (February 24, 1902 – December 20, 1982) was an English–American record producer and music business executive. He produced Robert Johnson's only recordings, and as head of Columbia Records' country music division later wo ...

and Frank Jones. At Columbia, she recorded a single called "I Think I Know". The song was a Top 10 hit for Worth. In 1961, she released another single called "There'll Always Be Sadness". The single was not as successful as her other singles, but it did make the Top 25 that year. For almost two years, Worth was absent from the Country charts. In 1963, Marion returned to the Country charts. That year, she recorded the song "

Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry) "Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry)" is a song written by Hal Hackady and Charles Naylor. It was originally recorded by The Lennon Sisters in 1957, but did not become commercially successful until a 1962 release by Marion Worth. It was later rec ...

" which reached Country's Top 15 and crossed over to the

Pop Music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

charts, reaching the Top 50. It was also played on Easy Listening stations, and receives some airplay as a Christmas song due to its theme of toys and giving. She followed up well with a cover version of " Crazy Arms," a hit for Ray Price. Her version reached the Country Top 20. That same year, Worth joined the ''

''. The next year, 1964 started with a Top 40 hit called "You Took Him Off My Hands (Now Please Take Him Off My Mind)". Her biggest hit of 1964 was a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a sol ...

recording with George Morgan called " Slipping Around". The song was a Top 20 hit. She had another recording that year called "The French Song", which was a Top 25 hit. In 1966, Worth was back on the charts with a top 40 recording called "I Will Not Blow Out the Light". Marion soon parted ways with

and signed with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

where she recorded two songs that reached the charts, "A Woman Needs Love" in 1967 and "Mama Sez" in 1968.

Later years and death

Worth's recording success on the Country Music charts waned after 1968. Her hobby was to study the history of the world, which she focused a lot of time on after her chart success faded away. However, Worth didn't stop performing. She continued to be an active member of the ''

'' and she was a popular and in-demand performer for many years in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Worth did a lot of firsts for Country Music during her heyday. She was one of the first Country performers to perform at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as well as one of the first Country performers to perform in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. During the 1950s, Worth was one of several female Country singers, which included

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Ma ...

and Kitty Wells, to break down the tradition of using women only as

background singer A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

s in

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, ...

. On Sunday, December 19, 1999, Worth died in

, Tennessee at the Tennessee Christian Medical Center from complications of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alv ...

. She was 69 years old.

Discography

Albums

Singles

External links

Marion Worth Dies At Age 64
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worth, Marion 1930 births 1999 deaths American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Grand Ole Opry members Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama Columbia Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers Country musicians from Alabama Singer-songwriters from Alabama