Marijohn Wilkin (née Melson, formerly Russell, later Selman; July 14, 1920 – October 28, 2006) was an American songwriter, famous in country music for writing a number of hits such as "One Day At a Time" and "My Long Black Veil". Wilkin won numerous awards over the years and was referred to as "The Den Mother of Music Row," as chronicled in her 1978 biography Lord, Let Me Leave a Song (authored with Darryl E. Hicks). It was honored as “One of the 100 Most Important Books about Nashville’s Music Industry.”
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Wilkin was born in Kemp, Texas, to Ernest and Karla Melson and raised in Sanger, north of Dallas. Her father played the fiddle and ran a bakery. During the Depression and motivated by a strong faith, he would distribute free bread to the hobos. After his death in 1936, his daughter became a teacher, singing in her spare time. Her husband, Bedford Russell, was killed during the Second World War. She remarried and a son, John ("Bucky"), was born in 1946. The marriage did not last and she married Art Wilkin Jnr in 1950.
In 1955, she became part of Red Foley's touring show and had her first songs recorded the following year - Mitchell Torok's "Take This Heart" and Wanda Jackson's "No Wedding Bells for Joe". She settled in Nashville in 1958. With John D. Loudermilk, she wrote Stonewall Jackson's million-selling novelty "Waterloo" and Jimmy C. Newman's US country hit "Grin and Bear It" (both 1958).
With Danny Dill, she wrote "The Long Black Veil", a US country hit for Lefty Frizzell in 1959 - and later covered by the Kingston Trio, Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, the Band and Mick Jagger with the Chieftains. At his final recording session in 1960, Eddie Cochran recorded Wilkin's humorous "Cut Across Shorty" - recorded twice since by Rod Stewart. In 1961, Wilkin wrote "I Just Don't Understand" for a sultry Ann-Margret. She wrote two of Webb Pierce's country hits ("Fallen Angel", "Take Time") as well as the heroic "PT 109", a US hit in 1962 for Jimmy Dean.
During 1964, Wilkin formed her own company, Buckhorn Music. She was the first to recognize Kris Kristofferson's potential and signed him as a writer. With her fourth husband, the record producer Clarence Selman, she formed the Nashville Songwriters Association in 1967. Wilkin also recorded occasionally for Columbia Records and Dot Records in the 1960s and at times worked as a background vocalist. She is billed simply as Marijohn on a few of her recordings. On DOT records, she recorded under the name Romi Spain. Wilkin's son, John "Bucky" Wilkin, became the frontman of the 1960s surf rock group Ronny & the Daytonas, whose 1964 debut single "G.T.O." reached No. 4 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.
Marijohn Wilkin may be most famous for "One Day at a Time", often considered the biggest gospel song of the 1970s. Wilkin wrote the song in 1973 with some assistance by her former protégé Kris Kristofferson. The song won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association in 1975 (see also: Dove Award for Song of the Year). The song was a top 20 country single for Marilyn Sellars in 1974 and hit No. 37 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. It also launched a career as a gospel recording artist for Wilkin, who released several albums on Word Records. A remake became a No. 1 country hit for Cristy Lane in 1980 and has since been recorded more than 200 times. Even though written as a personal worship song, it has also been recognized as "One of the Top 50 Southern Gospel Songs."
After several years of unhappiness, heavy drinking and suicide attempts, Wilkin sought salvation through gospel music. She wrote "One Day at a Time", originally recorded by Marilyn Sellars and a UK No 1 for Lena Martell in 1979. On this she shares the writing credit with Kris Kristofferson, but he told me, I was in the room while Marijohn was writing it and I might have helped with a line or two, but I think of it as her song and I'm a little embarrassed that she put my name on it. She was paying me back for the songs I'd written for her like "For the Good Times" and "Darby's Castle". She was the first publisher I worked for and she introduced me to everybody in the business.
In 1975, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wilkin formed 17th Avenue Music, a publishing company. It became profitable when its songs were recorded by LeAnn Rimes. In 2005, Wilkin was honored by the SOURCE organization as a pioneering Music Row businesswoman. This was her last notable public appearance. She died of heart disease in 2006, aged 86. Her last marriage was to record producer Clarence Selman in 1967.
(Edited from Wikipedia & The Independent)