Country Music Hall of Fame Member Hank Thompson Died Nov, 06,07

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR HANK THOMPSON'S WEB SITE
CLICK ON LINK FOR CMT STORY

CMT News

Country Music Hall of Fame Member Hank Thompson Dies

Texas Native Best Known for "The Wild Side of Life"

November 7, 2007; Written by Ronnie Pugh

Hank Thompson

Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Thompson died late Tuesday (Nov. 6) at his home near Fort Worth, Texas, following a battle with lung cancer. The 82-year-old singer, songwriter and bandleader last week canceled all of his tour dates after being hospitalized. He played his last concert on Oct. 8 in his native Waco, Texas, when Hank Thompson Day was declared by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy.

According to Thompson's official Web site, a celebration of his life will take place Nov. 14 at Billy Bob's Texas, the famed nightspot in Fort Worth.

Few performers in any era of the music have known and appreciated its history as well, and Thompson, elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989, was a big part of that history. His warm and rich baritone graced hits from the 1940s to the 1970s, as his award-winning Brazos Valley Boys band gave those honky-tonk hits a distinctive flavor of Western swing, much in the pattern followed later by fellow Texan George Strait.