Baker Knight

Baker Knight, who wrote hundreds of songs during his career spanning the 1950s to the 1970s, was born Thomas Baker Knight, Jr., in Birmingham, Alabama on the Fourth of July, 1933. His family lived in various places in the South, but most of his youth was spent in the shadow of Vulcan, who stood on hill overlooking the steel-producing city of Birmingham. After graduating from high school in Birmingham, he spent three years in the Air Force. It was during his three year hitch in the service that he learned to play guitar. After leaving the Air Force, he matriculated for a year at the University of Alabama but could not afford to return for his sophomore year. Instead, he enrolled at a Birmingham art school and learned technical illustration and draftsmanship. When Elvis Presley took the nation by storm in the mid-'50s and a new genre - rock n' roll -- was launched out of the fusion of country with rhythm and blues, Knight forged a Birmingham band, Baker Knight and the Knightmares, in 1956. The band became popular in Birmingham, and within a year, it was successful enough to serve as the opening act for rockabilly star Carl Perkins and country singer Conway Twitty. A n agent from Hollywood scouting steel city signed the band to a recording contract. One of Knight's compositions, "Bring My Cadillac Back," charted and sold 40,000 hot-wax platters in two weeks before the song was removed from radio play as an unpaid commercial for General Motors' luxury division. The band's momentum was lost, and they eventually broke up. With only $80 in his pockets of his jeans, Baker moved to Los Angeles to capitalize on an offer of movie role that didn't pan out. The lonely time he spent prowling Los Angeles, looking for a break, influenced the writing of his most famous song, "Lonesome Town," a commentary about being lost in a crowd all alone in a strange town like Hollywood. By the time he had written the song, Knight was down to his last 36 cents. Fate intervened when a mutual friend introduced him to Ricky Nelson, Ozzie & Harriet's youngest boy who was carving out a career for himself as a pop star. "I played a few songs for him," Knight recalled, "and much to my surprise, his manager called two days later and told me Ricky wanted to record two of the songs. They offered me a $2,000 advance, which was unexpected but most welcome at the time, considering I was flat broke." Within six months, Nelson's version of "Lonesome Town cracked Billboard's Top 10, peaking at #6, while ts B-side, "I Got a Feeling," another song written by Knight, charted at #11. Nelson eventually recorded 21 original songs written by Knight. Knight wrote almost 1,000 songs, which were recorded by over 40 singers, including The King himself, Elvis Presley, who had a hit in 1970 with The Wonder of You." Dean Martin had a hits with Knight's "Somewhere There's a Someone" and "That Old Time Feelin'" He also recorded the Knight songs "Not Enough Indians" and "If You Ever Get Around To Loving Me." Other singers of the first rank who recorded Knight's work were Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sammy Davis Jr. In 1976, Mickey Gilley won the "Song of the Year" award from the Academy of Country Music for Knight's "Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time." Knight's song-writing career waned in the 1980s due to health problems, but his work remained as alive and as vital as ever. In 1999, Paul McCartney included a cover of "Lonesome Town" on his album "Run Devil Run." More significantly, Paul also sang the song at a London tribute to his late wife, Linda. Baker Knight returned to Birmingham in 1985. His songwriting lapsed when he became plagued by agoraphobia, chronic fatigue syndrome and continued to suffer from tremendous pain on a daily basis. He died on October 12, 2005 from a self inflicted gun shot wound to the head. He was found a few days later by a neighbor and his daughter, actress Tuesday Knight was notified. Soon after Baker's suicide, funeral arrangements were made by the family. He was cremated and his ashes were spread across his property in Birmingham, as well as in the pacific ocean near Santa Monica, California by his daughter. He was 72 years old.