Jimmie Rodgers

After attending Camas High School, he briefly took courses at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. He later went to work at the Crown Zellerbach paper mill in Camas. Although he loved music, he was uncertain whether he could turn it into a career. He was drafted and served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War.

1950s

While in the Air Force, Rodgers joined a band named The Melodies, started by violinist Phil Clark. During his service, he was transferred to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was stationed at Sewart Air Force Base from 1954 to 1956. It was during this time that he began expanding his musical repertoire. While he was in Nashville, he first heard “Honeycomb,” the song that became his first hit.

Like several other entertainers of the era, he was one of the contestants on Arthur Godfrey's talent show on CBS television, winning $700. Producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore saw Rodgers perform and signed him to a recording contract with Morris Levy's company, Roulette Records.

In the summer of 1957, Rodgers recorded his version of “Honeycomb,” written by Bob Merrill and recorded by Georgie Shaw three years earlier. The tune was Rodgers' biggest hit, staying at the top of the charts for four weeks. It sold over 1 million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Over the following year, he had several other hits that reached the top 10 on the charts: “Kisses Sweeter than Wine,” “Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again,” “Secretly,” and “Are You Really Mine?.” Other hits include “Bo Diddley,” “Bimbombey,” “Ring-a-ling-a-lario,” “Tucumcari,” “Tender Love and Care (T.L.C),” and a version of Waltzing Matilda as a film tie-in with the apocalyptic movie On the Beach in 1959.

In the United Kingdom, “Honeycomb” reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1957, and “Kisses Sweeter than Wine” climbed to number 7 the following month. Both “Kisses Sweeter than Wine” and “Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again” were million sellers.

The success of “Honeycomb” earned Rodgers guest appearances on numerous variety programs during 1957, including the “Shower of Stars” program, hosted by Jack Benny, on October 31, 1957, and the Big Record with Patti Page, on December 4, 1957. Rodgers also made several appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, including on September 8, 1957, when he was seen by 48,500,000, the largest television audience of his entire career and on November 3, 1957. In 1958, he appeared on NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show. Also in 1958, he sang the opening theme song of the film The Long, Hot Summer, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Orson Welles. He then had his own short-lived televised variety show on NBC in 1959.

1960s

In 1960, Rodgers' “Wreck of the John B” was a number 1 hit in Canada, and reached No. 64 on the U.S.charts. His biggest hit of the decade in the UK was “English Country Garden”, a version of the folk song “Country Gardens”, which reached number 5 in the chart in June 1962. In 1962, he moved to the Dot label, and four years later to A&M Records. He also appeared in some films, including The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and Back Door to Hell, which he helped finance.

In 1966, a long dry spell ended for Rodgers when he re-entered the Top 40 with “It's Over” (later to be recorded by Eddy Arnold, Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Mason Williams, Scott Walker, and Sonny James). In 1967, he changed record labels, signing with A&M Records. It was with that label that Rodgers had his final charting Top 100 single, “Child of Clay”, written by Ernie Maresca (of “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out)” fame). He performed the song on several television variety shows, including The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, but never became a big hit; it reached number 31 on the Billboard charts.

Later career

Recovery from injuries sustained mysteriously on a highway in 1967 caused an approximately year-long period in which Rodgers ceased to perform. Meanwhile, his voice was still being heard: Several of his earlier hits were used in jingles in the 1970s, one for SpaghettiOs and another for Honeycomb breakfast cereal. And Rodgers' songs continued to make the Billboard Country and Easy Listening charts until 1979. During the summer of 1969, he briefly returned to network television with a summer variety show on ABC (which later bought the rights to Rodgers' Dot Records releases, now owned by Universal Music Group). It was not until the early 1980s that he began doing limited live appearances again. Among the earliest was a series of shows in late February 1983: he performed at Harrah's Reno Casino Cabaret. He also performed a few shows in other cities, including at a nightclub named Mister Days in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in late 1983.

Rodgers appeared in the 1999 video Rock & Roll Graffiti by American Public Television, along with about 20 other performers. Nevertheless, he tried “Honeycomb,” and he mentioned that he had a show in Branson, Missouri.

Rodgers returned to his hometown of Camas, Washington, in 2011 and 2012, performing to sell-out crowds. In 2013, his neighbors successfully got a street named after him in the neighborhood where he grew up.

In 2010, Rodgers wrote and published his autobiography, Dancing on the Moon: The Jimmie Rodgers Story.