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  • 6/20/2025
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter.

Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as influencing prominent country singers like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Willie Nelson. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982 as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In his prime, Frizzell was the first artist to achieve four songs in the top ten on the Country Music Billboard charts at one time. Frizzell went on to have more success, releasing many songs that charted in the Top 10 of the Hot Country Songs charts as an artist and songwriter. After dealing with alcoholism, he died of a stroke at age 47.

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Transcript
00:00Lefty Frizzell was a country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter who was a popular musical
00:10artist in the 1950s. Frizzell was born in Corsicana, Texas in 1928. Frizzell acquired
00:22the nickname Lefty as a child following a schoolyard fight. Frizzell's music would prove
00:30to be a major influence on future country stars such as Merle Haggard. In 1950, Frizzell scored
00:39a major hit with the song, If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time. Frizzell was a prolific writer
00:48and he scored numerous hits during the 50s with the songs Always Late With Your Kisses
00:55and the original version of the classic Long Black Veil. Frizzell continued recording hits during
01:04the 1960s and scored his biggest hit ever with Saginaw, Michigan in 1964. Frizzell had always
01:15been a big drinker but his alcoholism was steadily worsening and Frizzell died in 1975 from a stroke
01:24at the age of 47. Frizzell recorded the debut album Songs of Jimmy Rogers in 1951. The album was
01:37ostensibly a tribute to Rogers but it also heralded the arrival of a major artist in Frizzell. Other fine
01:47albums recorded by Frizzell during his career were Saginaw, Michigan from 1964, The Sad Side of Love
01:56also from 1964 and the legendary Lefty Frizzell in 1973. Among the compilations available for this
02:08artist are the following. Remembering the greatest hits of Lefty Frizzell from 1975 and the best of Lefty Frizzell
02:19Lefty Frizzell from 1991.

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