Billy Wayne "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939) is an American country and rockabilly singer. He first gained popularity in Australia in the 1950s with a string of rockabilly hits, including the Australian number one hit "Boom Boom Baby". Switching to country music, he gained popularity in United States in the 1970s
with a string of top ten country hits. Craddock is known to his fans as "The King Of Country Rock Music" and "Mr. Country Rock" for his up-tempo rock-influenced style of country music.Craddock was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He learned how to play guitar from his oldest brother when he was six. At age 11, he entered a local television talent contest and was voted top winner for 15 consecutive weeks. Craddock received the nickname "Crash" while a running back for his high school football team. After he left high school, he formed a rockabilly band with one of his brothers called The Four Rebels. His early influences included Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, and Hank Williams
He soon got a deal with Columbia's Date Records. He released "Ah, Poor Little Baby" with no success. The song was covered in England by Adam Faith. He began recording for Columbia Records in 1958, recording rockabilly and pop tunes. He appeared twice on American Bandstand but failed to have a hit in the U.S. The only song that charted in the U.S. was Don't Destroy Me, which peaked at No. 94 for one week in November 1959. He did, however, become very popular in Australia.
In 1959, Craddock travelled to Australia with Bobby Rydell, The Everly Brothers, Santo and Johnny, and The Diamonds. He didn't know how popular he was in the country and didn't think that anyone would recognize him there. When the plane arrived at the airport, there were thousands of screaming teenagers. Craddock didn't know that he had the number one record in the country, “Boom Boom Baby.”He soon became the most popular teen idol in the country and is still popular today.
After his hits in Australia, he recorded one album and several singles during the 1960s. "I'm Tore Up" was released in 1964 on King Records. He released two singles with Mercury Records in the early 1960s. He then went on to record several singles with the Chart label with no success.
In 1973, Craddock signed with ABC-Dot Records, where he enjoyed his biggest hits. One was "Sweet Magnolia Blossom", but his biggest hit, 1974's "Rub It In", was also a modest pop hit. Today, several bars from the song are featured in commercials for Glade Plug-In products. He recorded a total of nine #1 hits.
Craddock consistently hit the country top ten in the 1970s and he became one of country music's first male sex symbols, unusually handsome for a male country star of the era and dressed in stage clothes exposing his hairy, muscular chest as he growled his way through rockin' numbers and love songs with a stage persona strongly influenced by Elvis Presley.His singles began to be less successful in the early 1980's though he occasionally still cracked the top 30. Craddock recorded several albums for Capitol before leaving the label in 1983. He briefly owned his own small record label, Cee Cee Records, and released one single in 1983 that made the lower end on the national country charts.
His last album “Live-n-Kickin’” was released on Cee Cee Records in 2009. He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
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Nowadays at the age of 80, he is still able to superbly entertain audiences time and time again. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)
Nowadays at the age of 80, he is still able to superbly entertain audiences time and time again. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)