TG Sheppard
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William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944) is 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-songwriter, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 14 number-one hits on the US country charts between 1974 and 1986, including eight consecutive number ones between 1980 and 1982.


Early life

Browder was born in
Humboldt, Tennessee Humboldt is a city in Gibson and Madison counties, Tennessee. The population was 8,452 at the 2010 census, a decline of 1,015 from 2000. It is the principal city of and is included in the Humboldt, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...
, United States. He dropped out of high school at age 15 and ran away from home to become involved in the
music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
.


Career

William Browder, as he was then known, first recorded for
Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...
as Brian Stacy in 1966. Browder worked as an executive at RCA during the early 1970s, but in 1974, signed with Melodyland (later Hitsville) Records, a short-lived country label owned by
Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...
. He used the stage name T.G. Sheppard to avoid jeopardizing his job with RCA, due to his recording material with a different label. According to Browder, "The T.G. in my stage name is really and truly just initials. A lot of people through the years have had fun putting what they want the initials to stand for, but they really don't mean anything, they are just initials." He recorded the song " Devil in the Bottle", which became a No. 1
hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
on ''
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 ...
's''
Hot Country Singles 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 ...
chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
and also became a top 60 Pop hit in 1975. The follow-up, "Tryin' to Beat the Morning Home", also went to No. 1 and cracked the top 100 during the summer of 1975. Several subsequent releases during 1975–77 made the top 10 like "Motels and Memories" and "Show Me a Man". In 1977, Sheppard signed with
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
. Starting with that summer's "When Can We Do This Again", he had a series of fifteen consecutive top 10 releases, including 10 No. 1 songs. The biggest included "
Last Cheater's Waltz "Last Cheater's Waltz" is the title track from Sonny Throckmorton's 1978 album ''Last Cheater's Waltz''. Throckmorton released the song as a double-A-side with " Smooth Sailin'" and charted at number 47 on the Hot Country Songs charts that year. ...
" (1979); "
I'll Be Coming Back for More "I'll Be Coming Back for More" is a song written by Curly Putman and Sterling Whipple, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944) is an American country music singer-songwriter, known ...
" and "
Do You Wanna Go to Heaven "Do You Wanna Go to Heaven" is a song written by Curly Putman and Bucky Jones, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard. It was released in July 1980 as the second single from the album '' Smooth Sailin. The song was Sheppa ...
" (1980); "
I Loved 'Em Every One "Loved 'Em Every One" is a song written by Phil Sampson, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard. It was released in March 1981 as the first single from the album '' I Love 'Em All''. The song was Sheppard's seventh number on ...
" and " Party Time" (1981); "
Only One You "Only One You" is a song written by Michael Garvin and Bucky Jones, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard. It was released in November 1981 as the first single from the album ''Finally!''. The song was his ninth No. 1 hit o ...
", "
Finally Finally may refer to: Albums * ''Finally'' (Namie Amuro album) (2017) * ''Finally'' (Blackstreet album) or its title song * ''Finally'' (Sean Ensign album) or its title song "It's My Life (Finally)" * ''Finally'' (Layzie Bone & A.K. album) ...
", and "
War Is Hell (On the Homefront Too) "War Is Hell (On the Homefront Too)" is a song written by Curly Putman, Bucky Jones and Dan Wilson, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard. It was released in July 1982 as the first single from the album '' Perfect Stranger'' ...
" (1982). Another major hit came in 1984: " Slow Burn". "I Loved 'Em Every One" also reached the top forty on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
. In 1984 he recorded, as a duet with
Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...
, the title track of '' Home Again'', her final album for Elektra Records. In 1985, he moved from Warner Bros. to
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 ...
. After just missing the top 20 with "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" (a remake of the
Elvin Bishop Elvin Richard Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a membe ...
hit), he returned to the top 10, with his biggest success during this time frame coming with 1986's " Strong Heart" (the last of his No. 1 hits, as it turned out). Three more songs peaked at No. 2 in 1987: "Half Past Forever (Till I'm Blue in the Heart)", "You're My First Lady", and "One for the Money". Sheppard's success continued until about 1988, when rootsy neo-traditionalist artists began to eclipse more polished pop-country artists. In 1995, he took a two-year hiatus from the road to perform exclusively for eight months a year at T.G. Sheppard's Theater in the Smokies, a state-of-the-art theater in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. When the theater was sold in 1997, he returned to the road. He continued to tour and play throughout the 1990s, but did not sign a new record contract, and did not release any new material until 1997. His 2002 live release, ''T.G. Sheppard: Live at
Billy Bob's Billy Bob's Texas is a country music nightclub located in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas, United States. It promotes itself as "The World's Largest Honky Tonk," at 100,000 square feet of interior space and nearly 20 acres of parking space. Hist ...
'', found Sheppard performing his classic hits for an enthusiastic crowd at the famed honky tonk in
Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, Texas. Sheppard released ''Timeless'' in 2004, an album that had him singing songs from the big band era. In the mid to late 1980s, he was an associate sponsor on the No. 25
Folgers Folgers Coffee is a brand of ground, instant, and single-use pod coffee produced and sold in the United States, with additional distribution in Asia, Canada and Mexico. It forms part of the food and beverage division of The J.M. Smucker Comp ...
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
driven on the
NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
by
Tim Richmond Timothy Lee Richmond (June 7, 1955 – August 13, 1989) was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio. He competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. Richmond was one of the first drivers to change fro ...
and
Ken Schrader Kenneth Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Trac ...
. In 1990, the Folgers sponsorship moved to Roush racing and driver
Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series st ...
. T.G. Sheppard currently tours throughout the year and, after a two-decade hiatus, he released a new single "I Wanna Live Like Elvis" in January 2019 with a new album set to be released at a later date. Sheppard was a friend of
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's and hosts his own show on
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
's Elvis Radio. Sheppard's show was created to replace new broadcasts of disc jockey and Presley friend George Klein's show after Klein's death in 2019.


Personal life

Sheppard is married to singer-songwriter Kelly Lang and resides in
Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the largest city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. The population was 61,753 at the 2020 census. Hendersonville is the fourth-largest city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nashville, Murfreesboro, an ...
. Sheppard owned a small chain of now-defunct restaurants under the name of "T.G.'s North of the Border Cafe and Cantina" in Tennessee. The restaurant had locations in
Gatlinburg Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville and had a population of 3,944 at the 2010 Census and a U.S. Census population of 3,577 in 2020. It is a popular vacation resort ...
and
Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
.


Filmography


Discography


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, T. G. 1944 births Living people Singer-songwriters from Tennessee American country singer-songwriters People from Humboldt, Tennessee Warner Records artists Curb Records artists Columbia Records artists Country musicians from Tennessee