Jack Clement
Induction Year: 1973
Birth Name: Jack Henderson Clement
Birth Date: April 05, 1931
Place of Birth: Whitehaven, TN
Biography
(on favorite songs he's written) "I like 'Ballad of a Teenage Queen.'"
"In spite of all the things the world has wrong with it, it does have some good things to eat.
Pineapple Jack Clement's Ten Tips For Songwriters:
1) Remember that experts are often wrong.
2) Experts tend to be narrow and overly opinionated.
3) Experts don't buy records.
4) There's nothing wrong with waltzes if they're played right.
5) A good song gets better with age.
6) Reveal some of yourself with most of your songs.
7) Don't get stuck on one song too long. Work on other songs as you go.
8) Learn to grow from setbacks, delays, and getting your feelings hurt.
9) Write the worst song you can think of.
10) Write the best song you can think of.
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Education: |
Discography / Career Highlights
Career Milestones:
1953 - began career as recording artist for Sheraton Records in Boston
1954 - returned to Memphis and began playing steel guitar for a local country bandleader, Slim Wallace; the two formed their own record label, Fernwood
1956 - worked as producer and engineer at Sun Records, beginning on June 15
1959 - after leaving Sun, went to Nashville and became assistant to Chet Atkins at RCA for a year and a half; he was considered to be one of the first independent producers to work for a major label in Nashville
1959 - created first publishing company, Jack Music Inc.
1961 - became a partner with Bill Hall in the formation of Hall-Clement Publishing; helped to start and establish careers of songwriting team Jerry Foster and Bill Rice
1963 - involved with operations of recording studios in Beaumont and Houston, TX; studio in Beaumont was where he cut the million-seller "Patches" performed by Dickey Lee
1965 - moved to Nashville on February 1, centralizing his operations and ending time-consuming commute between Nashville and Texas
1965 - met Charley Pride, beginning significant artist-producer relationship
1966 - recorded Charley Pride's first records
1970 - opened his own studio in Nashville in October, the Jack Clement Recording Studios; one of the biggest selling records of the year was recorded there, Ray Stevens' "Everything is Beautiful"; studio was the first 16 track studio in Nashville (name changed to Sound Emporium in 1980)
1970 - produced a full-length feature motion picture starring Agnes Moorehead, Michael Ansara, Will Geer, Dennis Patrick and others, "Dear Dead Delilah"
1971 - started his own record company, J-M-I Records with Allen Reynolds
1978 - released his first album as an artist, "All I Want To Do In Life," on Elektra/Asylum Records
2013 - Inducted Into The Country Music Hall Of Fame
Catalog Highlights:
"Ballad of a Teenage Queen" - Artists: Johnny Cash (1957)
"Guess Things Happen That Way" - Artists: Johnny Cash (1958)
"A Girl I Used to Know" - Artists: George Jones, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, Ray Charles
"Miller's Cave" - Artists: Hank Snow, Bobby Bare
"California Girl and the Tennessee Square" - Artists: Tompall and the Glaser Brothers
"Not What I Had in Mind" - Artists: George Jones
"The One On The Right Is On The Left" - Artists: Johnny Cash
"Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger" - Co-writer: Don Robertson - Artists: Charley Pride
"It'll Be Me" - Co-writer: Jerry Gillespie, Rory Bourke - Artists: Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Richard, Tom Jones
"Fools Like Me" - Co-writer: Murphy Maddox - Artists: Jerry Lee Lewis
"The Five Little Johnson Girls" - Artists: The Stonemans
"I Know One" - Artists: Jim Reeves, Charley Pride
"Just Between You and Me" - Artists: Charley Pride
"Everybody Loves a Nut" - Artists: Johnny Cash
"Let the Chips Fall" - Artists:Charley Pride
"Let All Help the Cowboys (Sing the Blues)" - Artists: Waylon Jennings
"The Moods of Mary" - Artists: The Glaser Brothers
"Gone Girl" - Artists: The Glaser Brothers
"Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog"
"Don't Tennessee Waltz Out On Me"
"Freaked Out Over You"
"Flushed From the Bathroom Of Your Heart"
"Back to Nashville, Tennessee"
"Now I Can Live Again"
"I Got a Thing About Trains"
Comments:
Known as Cowboy Jack
Major producer - discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis while Sam Phillips was in Florida - also produced Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Charley Pride
At his publishing company, Jack Music, Inc., Clement helped the careers of Allen Reynolds, Bob McDill and Don Williams