Willie Wynn Biography Page 1
Willie Wynn was
born in Moultrie, Georgia on December 13, 1937. He grew up having six brothers
and one sister plus three half sisters and one half brother. He was raised in
a shot-gun house on a farm. He always knew he would sing one day. He never considered
any other line of work. He also loved the Statesmen Quartet from near-by Atlanta.
In describing a concert he attended as a boy, Willie said, "Once when I was a
kid, or at least younger, the Statesmen were in the high school auditorium, which
holds about 800 bodies. During intermission, I went into the hallway behind the
stage. Crump was sitting there smoking a cigar. He spent considerable time talking
to me. He was so nice and professional. I thought I had died & gone to Madisonville,
Kentucky! I must have been fourteen at the time, and I knew without reservations,
that I wanted to become 'one of them sangers.'"
The first group Willie
sang with was the FFA Quartet, a high school group in Moultrie. One of the other
singers in that group was Jimmy Glass. Jimmy would later organize the Telestials.
He now drives for the Oak Ridge Boys. After Willie's hero Denver Crumpler died,
Willie tried out for the Statesmen. They still had Rosie to audition, and everyone
knows who got the job. But Willie KNEW he would sing with the Statesmen one day.
He did not think it or hope for it. He KNEW he would sing with them someday.
But fame did not come to Willie through the Statesmen.
Willie was living in Atlanta
working in a book bindery in 1958. He even has an autobiography at home in a book
he bound himself. Unfortunately all the pages are blank! One day the Oak Ridge
Quartet was singing at the Wally Fowler All Night Sing in Atlanta. Smitty Gatlin
was singing tenor and Tommy Fairchild was singing lead and playing piano at the
time, so there were only four of them. An old friend of Willie's, Bob McCollum
who lived around Atlanta told Smitty and the group about Willie’s singing. Willie
was sick in bed with the flu, and at intermission they went to Willie's house and
got him out of bed and brought him over to the Atlanta City Auditorium. They went
over some songs in the dressing room, all of which Willie knew, and they wanted
him. They asked Willie to move to Nashville then, but the Wynns were expecting
their second child. The birth was already paid for, $60 through a clinic up front.
A few months later he moved to Nashville and the Oak Ridge Quartet started singing
weekends. Smitty got him a job at another book bindery. He made $1.25 an hour!
At that time, Tommy was an insurance debit man, Smitty had a good job at Martha
White Mills, Herman was also in the insurance business and Ronnie Page was an emcee
at WKDA radio. They had those jobs less than two years and got popular enough
to hit the road full time.
They had a blast and were
making the "big time" in gospel music. The fans, hits, and miles were accumulating.
In addition to singing, each member had a job within the group. Willie was in
charge of merchandise for his entire time with the Oaks. He probably gave away
more than he ever sold. Recently when visiting a long-time friend and fan, Julia
Belle Starling, she gave Willie her Oaks records because she wanted him to have
them. When asked why, she said Willie had given them all to her in concerts in
the first place.
While everyone knows of
"The Team" in gospel music at that time (Statesmen-Blackwoods), the Oaks had a
team of their own. Although it was not an organized team like the other, the Oaks
often traveled with the Speers. When the two groups appeared in concert together
and the Oaks were on stage, Ben would be backstage making the Oaks mess-up. They
would be singing and would just bust out laughing while doing a serious number
like "When I Come To The End Of The Road." Smitty would crack up and have to tell
Ben to leave them alone. The Oaks no doubt did the same to the Speers. Ben Speer
remains one of Willie's closest friends to this day.
Since all the boys lived
around Nashville, it was inevitable that memories would be made off the road as
well as on it. Tommy Fairchild tells this story about Willie from that era. "One
of the memories of Little Willie Wynn that stands out in my memory is the night
many years ago when he called me and said that there was a prowler outside his
house and for me to get over there as quickly as possible and to bring my gun.
We were living only 3 blocks apart at the time so I rushed over. He met me at the
door, grabbed his old shotgun, and out we went to find the prowler. We didn't find
him, of course, but it was what happened afterward that brings a laugh every time
I think about it. We gave up the chase, he laid his gun against the side of the
house...and it literally fell apart! The barrel fell off, and it dropped in pieces
to the ground. Seldom have I ever laughed so hard! What if we had found the prowler
and Willie had shot the gun? Needless to say, the old "smokepole" as he called
it, was put into retiremnt that night."
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