- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWilliam Orville Frizzell
- Lefty Frizzell was born on March 31, 1928 in Corsicana, Texas, USA. He was married to Alice Harper. He died on July 19, 1975 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
- SpouseAlice Harper(March 12, 1945 - July 19, 1975) (his death)
- Often wore flashy rhinestone suits and elaborately detailed boots and accessories.
- Gibson SJ-200 with modified Bigsby neck with his name on a custom pickguard
- Ability to "curl" and enunciate every word, often adding syllables to the words of in his songs.
- Stretched vowels in words and circled up and down from the melody
- Was the first ever to wear a rhinestone studded suit on stage and was influenced to do so by none other than the famous radio tailor Nudie.
- "Always Late" was the No. 1 country song of 1951.
- His younger brother, David Frizzell, had a string of major country hits in the early 1980s (including several duet singles with Shelly West.
- Had some of the biggest country hits of the early 1950s -- including the Billboard magazine No. 1 hits "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" (1950); and "Always Late With Your Kisses" and "I Love You a Thousand Ways" (both 1951). He returned to No. 1 in 1964 with "Saginaw, Michigan." His other memorable hits were "The Long, Black Veil" (1959), "She's Gone, Gone, Gone" (1965) and "I Never Go Around Mirrors" (1974).
- Older brother of David Frizzell and Allen Frizzell.
- Some people can't talk and express themselves; with me, expression comes in the form of a song, and it makes me very happy. So I'd lose my blues, hang on to what little I had, and it became a style
- You know, you can copyright the words of a song, and the music to the song, but you can't copyright your voice.
- "I'm not really a lazy guy, but I got tired of holding high notes for a long time. Instead of straining, I just let it roll down and it felt good to me." - commenting about his singing style.
- When I sing, to me every word had a feeling about it. I had to linger, had to hold it. I didn't want to let go of it. I want to hold one word through a whole line of melody, to linger with it all the way down. I didn't want to let go of that no more than I wanted to let go of the woman I loved. I didn't want to lose it.
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