Marvin Rainwater
Encyclopedia
Marvin Karlton Rainwater (born July 2, 1925), better known as Marvin Rainwater, is an American
country
and rockabilly
singer and songwriter who had several hits during the late 1950s, including "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" and "Whole Lotta Woman". He is known for wearing Native American
-themed outfits on stage and is 25 percent Cherokee
.
to Stella and Cicero Percy Rainwater, and grew up during the Great Depression. As a child, instead of listening to the Grand Ole Opry
with his father, he took classical piano lessons, which ended after he lost part of his right thumb to a work accident as a teenager. He originally trained to be a veterinarian, but after some time in the Navy during World War II took up the guitar.
He became fascinated with Roy Acuff
and started playing and writing songs. With his brothers, he played concerts around Virginia
. He sometimes wore a buckskin jacket and headband. Rising guitarist Roy Clark
worked with Rainwater and together they cut a few demos
for 4 Star Records
. Pop
singer Teresa Brewer
turned one of his compositions, "I Gotta Go Get My Baby", into a big hit. Others were overdubbed and released on budget record labels.
Rainwater got his big break in the music business when he performed on Arthur Godfrey
's programs. He won first place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
on May 9, 1955. He had a regular role on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee
for several years in Springfield, Missouri
beginning in 1955. He signed with MGM Records
and recorded a series of songs for the label, including peppy numbers like "Hot and Cold". Such songs were showcases for Rainwater's voice, and his energy and versatility led him to record rockabilly.
voice made him popular. One of the first country songs he recorded was "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird", which he wrote. Released in 1957, the song became a big country-pop crossover hit, making Rainwater among the first country singers to appeal to a pop market. The song reached No. 5 on the country chart and 18 on the pop chart. It sold one million copies by 1957, and gave Rainwater his first gold record
. During the song's success, Rainwater relocated to the New Jersey
-New York
area.
"The Majesty of Love" (1957) was a duet with Connie Francis
, which also sold over one million copies. His next single, "So You Think You Got Troubles", was a successful follow-up on the country charts, but not on the pop charts. His self-penned "Whole Lotta Woman" reached UK
No. 1 one for three weeks in April and May 1958. A second UK single, "I Dig You Baby", made No. 19 in June 1958. Another hit was "Nothin' Needs Nothin' (Like I Need You)".
Rainwater performed and toured throughout the rest of the 1950s. In 1959, he added three more gold records: "My Love Is Real", "My Brand Of Blues" and "Half Breed" all sold in excess of one million records
. "Half Breed" was a cover version of a John D. Loudermilk
song, and in 1959, Rainwater recorded another Loudermilk song, "The Pale Faced Indian". His original version went unnoticed, but later efforts by Don Fardon
and Paul Revere & The Raiders
under the title "Indian Reservation" were hits.
His voice began to give out, and he developed calluses on his vocal cords. As a result, Rainwater and MGM Records parted ways in 1960. He went into brief retirement to rest his voice and then recorded sporadically for Warwick Records
, although without any hits. In the 1960s, he recorded for a series of record labels including United Artists
, Warner Bros.
and Sonet
; and started his own record company called Brave Records.
, from which he slowly recovered, and moved to his current home in Aitkin
, Minnesota. He has appeared occasionally at rockabilly festivals in Europe and is still loved by many fans. He has three daughters: Judi, who lives in Wenatchee, Washington; Lora, who lives in Columbia Heights, Minnesota; and Barbara, who lives in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. His son, Wade, also lives in Minnesota.
Rainwater was the 73rd inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
.
on his 1999 album, Under the Influences
. "So You Think You've Got Troubles" was covered by Harry Nilsson
, as evidenced on his 1966 Spotlight on Nilsson
compilation album. "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" was covered by Steve Young
on his 1969 album, Rock Salt & Nails
. "Hot and Cold" was featured on Bob Dylan
's radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
singer and songwriter who had several hits during the late 1950s, including "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" and "Whole Lotta Woman". He is known for wearing Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
-themed outfits on stage and is 25 percent Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
.
Early life and rise to fame
Rainwater was born in Wichita, KansasWichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
to Stella and Cicero Percy Rainwater, and grew up during the Great Depression. As a child, instead of listening to the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
with his father, he took classical piano lessons, which ended after he lost part of his right thumb to a work accident as a teenager. He originally trained to be a veterinarian, but after some time in the Navy during World War II took up the guitar.
He became fascinated with Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
and started playing and writing songs. With his brothers, he played concerts around Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. He sometimes wore a buckskin jacket and headband. Rising guitarist Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
worked with Rainwater and together they cut a few demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
for 4 Star Records
Four Star Records
4 Star Records is the name of a record label that recorded many well-known country music acts in the 1950s. The label, founded after World War II, was home to singers such as Hank Locklin, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Rose Maddox, Webb Pierce and T. Texas Tyler...
. Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Teresa Brewer
Teresa Brewer
Teresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...
turned one of his compositions, "I Gotta Go Get My Baby", into a big hit. Others were overdubbed and released on budget record labels.
Rainwater got his big break in the music business when he performed on Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
's programs. He won first place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958...
on May 9, 1955. He had a regular role on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and was the centerpiece of a strategy for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital...
for several years in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
beginning in 1955. He signed with MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
and recorded a series of songs for the label, including peppy numbers like "Hot and Cold". Such songs were showcases for Rainwater's voice, and his energy and versatility led him to record rockabilly.
Height of his career (late 1950s)
Rainwater was one of country's most noteworthy stars in the late 1950s, when his good looks and baritoneBaritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
voice made him popular. One of the first country songs he recorded was "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird", which he wrote. Released in 1957, the song became a big country-pop crossover hit, making Rainwater among the first country singers to appeal to a pop market. The song reached No. 5 on the country chart and 18 on the pop chart. It sold one million copies by 1957, and gave Rainwater his first gold record
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. During the song's success, Rainwater relocated to the New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
-New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
area.
"The Majesty of Love" (1957) was a duet with Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
, which also sold over one million copies. His next single, "So You Think You Got Troubles", was a successful follow-up on the country charts, but not on the pop charts. His self-penned "Whole Lotta Woman" reached UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
No. 1 one for three weeks in April and May 1958. A second UK single, "I Dig You Baby", made No. 19 in June 1958. Another hit was "Nothin' Needs Nothin' (Like I Need You)".
Rainwater performed and toured throughout the rest of the 1950s. In 1959, he added three more gold records: "My Love Is Real", "My Brand Of Blues" and "Half Breed" all sold in excess of one million records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. "Half Breed" was a cover version of a John D. Loudermilk
John D. Loudermilk
John D. Loudermilk is an American singer and songwriter.-Biography:Born in Durham, North Carolina, Loudermilk grew up in a family who were members of the Salvation Army faith and was influenced by the church singing. His cousins Ira and Charlie Loudermilk were known professionally as the Louvin...
song, and in 1959, Rainwater recorded another Loudermilk song, "The Pale Faced Indian". His original version went unnoticed, but later efforts by Don Fardon
Don Fardon
Don Fardon is an English pop singer.-Career:His biggest success was to be his cover version of John D. Loudermilk's "Indian Reservation" . The global sales were estimated at over one million copies...
and Paul Revere & The Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...
under the title "Indian Reservation" were hits.
His voice began to give out, and he developed calluses on his vocal cords. As a result, Rainwater and MGM Records parted ways in 1960. He went into brief retirement to rest his voice and then recorded sporadically for Warwick Records
Warwick Records
Warwick Records is a British record label from the 1970s and early 1980s, which specialised in producing and compiling songs for compilations that have sometimes been given away as 'promos' with other products, such as magazines etc....
, although without any hits. In the 1960s, he recorded for a series of record labels including United Artists
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
and Sonet
Sonet Records
Sonet Records is a jazz record label operating as an imprint of Universal Music Sweden. It was founded in Sweden in 1956.Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980s. Dag Haeggqvist, the owner of Gazell Records, became an executive of the...
; and started his own record company called Brave Records.
Later life
In the 1970s, Rainwater developed throat cancerEsophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
, from which he slowly recovered, and moved to his current home in Aitkin
Aitkin, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,984 people, 892 households, and 434 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,150.3 people per square mile . There were 969 housing units at an average density of 561.8 per square mile...
, Minnesota. He has appeared occasionally at rockabilly festivals in Europe and is still loved by many fans. He has three daughters: Judi, who lives in Wenatchee, Washington; Lora, who lives in Columbia Heights, Minnesota; and Barbara, who lives in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. His son, Wade, also lives in Minnesota.
Rainwater was the 73rd inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
.
Legacy
Rainwater's song "Gamblin' Man" was covered by Mike NessMike Ness
Mike Ness is an American guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. As of Dennis Danell's death in 2000, he is now the only original member of the band...
on his 1999 album, Under the Influences
Under the Influences
Under the Influences, the second solo album from Social Distortion's Mike Ness, is a compilation of country, rock, and bluegrass covers released just six months after his first solo effort, Cheating at Solitaire. As the title implies, Ness intends the album to be an illustration of the music that...
. "So You Think You've Got Troubles" was covered by Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, as evidenced on his 1966 Spotlight on Nilsson
Spotlight on Nilsson
Spotlight on Nilsson is the debut album by Harry Nilsson. It is essentially a compilation of all four of the singles that were released during his tenure on the Tower label , plus two previously unreleased tracks...
compilation album. "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" was covered by Steve Young
Steve Young (musician)
Steve Young is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist, known for his song "Seven Bridges Road"...
on his 1969 album, Rock Salt & Nails
Rock Salt & Nails (album)
Rock Salt and Nails is the debut album by Steve Young. It is a pioneering Country rock/Outlaw country album that was recorded in 1969, with guest musicians Gram Parsons, Gene Clark and James Burton.-Track listing:...
. "Hot and Cold" was featured on Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour.
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
||
| 1957 | "Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" | 3 | 18 | — |
| "So You Think You've Got Troubles" | flip | — | — | |
| "The Majesty of Love" (with Connie Francis Connie Francis Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw... ) |
— | 93 | — | |
| 1958 | "Whole Lotta Woman" | 15 | 60 | 1 |
| "I Dig You Baby" | — | — | 19 | |
| "Nothin' Needs Nothin' (Like I Need You)" | 11 | — | — | |
| 1959 | "Half-Breed" | 16 | 66 | — |
Albums
- 1957 Songs By Marvin Rainwater (MGM E3534)
- 1958 Sings With A Heart - With A Beat (MGM E3721) (1985:Bear Family BFX 15132)
- 1960 Sing for You (Audio Lab)
- 1962 Gonna Find Me A Bluebird (MGM E4046)
- 1963 Marvin Rainwater (Crown CST307)
- 1985 Rockin' Rollin' (Bear Family BFX15079) (MGM Whole Lotta Woman)
- 1970 Country's Favorite Singer (Mount Vernon MVM146)
- 1972 Gets Country Fever (Philips)