Songwriter Norro Wilson dead at 79
Norro Wilson, the co-writer of classics like “The Grand Tour,” “The Most Beautiful Girl” and “A Picture of Me (Without You),” died Thursday after several months of declining health. He was 79 years old.
Over the course of his career, he was involved in nearly every aspect of the music business, working as a performer, a songwriter, a song plugger, a publisher, an A&R rep and a producer. Over his long career, he worked with artists including George Jones, Kenny Chesney, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette and Reba McEntire.
During his decades in Nashville, he also was a passionate advocate for songwriters.
“It hits me in the gut because Norro was just one of those that’s your family,” said Nashville Songwriters Association International Executive Director Bart Herbison. “I took this job almost 20 years ago and he was a mentor to me. He wouldn’t say a lot, but he would occasionally call and say, ‘Now Bart, have you thought of this, or that?’ He was a songwriter’s songwriter, a great producer and just one of those guys whose voice had volume. Even the young kids today, when a lot of them don’t know the elder generation, they know about Norro.”
Norris “Norro” Wilson was born April 4, 1938, in Scottsville, Ky. The son of a factory worker and a barber, Wilson began performing in a barbershop quartet in high school. Upon graduation, he attended Western Kentucky State College (now Western Kentucky University) and joined the Southlanders Quartet, the gospel group that brought him to Nashville in 1957. He toured with the Southlanders until 1960, when he began performing as a duo with Don Gant.
For a time in the late 1960s and early '70s, Wilson pursued a career as a solo recording artist. In 1970, he was chosen for Country Radio Seminar’s inaugural “New Faces of Country Music.” That year, his recording of "Do It to Someone You Love" peaked at No. 20; it was the highest-charting single of his singing career. He gave up recording entirely when he started thriving as a songwriter and music executive.
In 1967, Wilson found work as a song plugger for Al Gallico Music and soon began co-writing with songwriters in addition to pitching their songs. His first hit was "Baby, Baby (I Know You're a Lady)," co-written with Alex Harvey. Recorded and released by David Houston in 1969, the single spent four weeks atop the charts in January 1970.
In 1973, Charlie Rich found crossover success with "The Most Beautiful Girl," written by Wilson, Billy Sherrill and Rory Bourke: It topped the country, pop and adult contemporary charts. Two years later, Wilson and Sherrill’s “A Very Special Love Song” (also recorded by Charlie Rich) was named Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards.
While the head of A&R at RCA Records, Wilson signed singer Keith Whitley to the label and produced his EP “A Hard Act to Follow” in 1984. Wilson had cut his teeth as a producer by observing Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. “I learned by staying out of their hair and watching what they did, and gradually got into it,” he told The Tennessean in 1984.
He became CEO of Merit Music in 1987, and then started Norro Productions in 1990 after Merit was sold. He quickly secured Sammy Kershaw as a production client, a relationship that would spawn several albums. Wilson and Buddy Cannon produced albums for artists like Jones and Chesney, and formed Bud Ro Productions in 1998.
"Norro Wilson was one of the great music men, not just of our time, but all time," Chesney said. "He taught me so much about soul, and songs, and what it means to touch someone’s life with music. I am so fortunate to have not just known him, but made records with him — and I know wherever he is right now, he’s making people smile, writing songs and showing everyone the time of their life."
Over the course of his career, Wilson had a hand in writing 11 chart-topping country hits — including Jones' "The Grand Tour," “Never Been So Loved (In All My Life)” and “Night Games," both recorded by Pride, and “He Loves Me All the Way" by Wynette — and over 20 Top 10 songs. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum tapped Wilson for its “Poets and Prophets” series, which honors songwriters whose contributions have made a significant impact upon the genre, in 2011. During the program, museum historian Michael Gray described Wilson as "affable and funny, and no doubt very talented." Gray added, "He spent a half-century watching Music City bloom, and few in the business treaded Music Row’s ever-shifting sands more sure-footedly than Norro Wilson.”
Wilson is survived by daughter Christy and son David. Funeral arrangements are unavailable at this time.
