Marty Robbins The Essential 1951-1982 - Columbia Country Classics (2-CD)

Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins was a deeply private man: although he spent nearly thirty years in Nashville, Arizona remained his home, and behind the extroverted stage act lay a character who was hard to know, even shy. Born Martin David Robinson on 26 September 1925 near Glendale, Arizona – the twin of his sister Mamie – he identified all his life with his grandfather Texas Bob Heckle, a former Confederate and Texas Ranger.

Statistically his achievement is impressive: from 1952 to 1983 Robbins placed at least one record in the charts every single year, with more than twenty pop hits besides. Yet figures tell only half the story. From a career rooted in country music he made detours into gospel, rockabilly, Hawaiian, Latin and Caribbean music, western ballads and easy listening – and brought his unmistakable imprint to it all.

A Marty Robbins recording was usually identifiable as such within the first few bars. Beyond that, Robbins was one of the first country artists to take the business side of his career into his own hands. Add his passionate enthusiasm for stock-car racing, and one glimpses the many-sided life of this man – a life that began on the edge of the Arizona desert and ended in Nashville on the night of 8 December 1982, when heart disease claimed him.

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