Lefty Frizzell

American country music and honky tonk singer and prolific songwriter of the 1950s. His relaxed style of

singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison and John Fogerty.

Frizzell got the nickname Lefty at age 14 after a schoolyard scrap. In his late teens he was signed to Columbia

Records, and immediately had a string of hits that broke into country music's top ten; several of them reached

number one.

In 1950, he performed at the Grand Ole Opry; the following year he toured with country music's biggest star of

the era, Hank Williams. Frizzell had four songs in the country top ten at the same time in 1951—a feat

unmatched until The Beatles hit the charts in 1964.

In the early 1970s, he became the first country singer to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. Alcoholism by then,

however, was a problem. In 1972, his song "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" earned him a Grammy

Hall of Fame Award. On 19 July 1975, at age 47 he died after a massive stroke. In October 1982, Frizzell was

posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is also in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.