Jim Reeves The Fabulous

James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923 - July 31, 1964) was an American country and pop music singer-songwriter popular in the 1950s and 1960s who also gained a wide international following for his pioneering smooth Nashville sound. Gentleman Jim Reeves was perhaps the biggest male star to emerge from the Nashville sound. His mellow baritone voice and muted velvet orchestration combined to create a sound that echoed around his world and has lasted to this day. "Mexican Joe" was Reeves' debut single for Abbott, and it quickly climbed to number one in the spring of 1953, spending nine weeks at the top of the charts. It was followed by another number one hit, "Bimbo," later in 1953, establishing that Reeves was not a one-hit wonder. During 1954 and 1955, he had four other hit singles for Abbott and its parent company, Fabor, before RCA signed him to a long-term deal in 1955, "Yonder Comes a Sucker" was his first Top Ten hit for RCA in the summer of 1955. Throughout the '50s Reeves racked up a number of major hits and country classics like "Four Walls", "Anna Marie", "Blue Boy" and "Billy Bayou". Jim Reeves was at the height of his career when his private plane crashed outside of Nashville on July 31, 1964. The world had lost "The Gentlemen of Country Music".