Jerry Reed Hubbard was an American singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films.
36 Facts About Jerry Reed
2.
Jerry Reed was announced as an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in April 2017; he was officially inducted by Bobby Bare on October 24.
3.
Jerry Reed was born in Atlanta and was the second child of Robert and Cynthia Hubbard.
4.
Jerry Reed's grandparents lived in Rockmart and he would visit them from time to time.
5.
Jerry Reed was reunited with his mother and stepfather in 1944.
6.
Jerry Reed graduated from O'Keefe High School, an Atlanta city school.
7.
At Capitol Records Jerry Reed was promoted as a new "teen-age sensation" after recording his own rockabilly composition "When I Found You" in 1956.
8.
Jerry Reed recorded both country and rockabilly singles and found success as a songwriter when label mate Gene Vincent covered his song "Crazy Legs" in 1958.
9.
Jerry Reed recorded for NRC as both an artist and as a member of the staff band which included Joe South and Ray Stevens, other NRC artists.
10.
In 1959, Jerry Reed hit the Billboard "Bubbling Under the Top 100", known as the Roar and Cashbox Country chart with the single "Soldier's Joy".
11.
In July 1967, Jerry Reed had his best showing on the country chart with his self-penned "Guitar Man", which Elvis Presley soon covered.
12.
Jerry Reed wants it to sound like it sounded on your album.
13.
Atkins thought Jerry Reed was a better fingerstyle player than he was himself; Jerry Reed, according to Atkins, helped him work out the fingerpicking for one of Atkins's biggest hits, "Yakety Sax".
14.
Jerry Reed was one of only five people to have the title of Certified Guitar Player and Chet Atkins gave him the title.
15.
Jerry Reed sang and played the song "Pretty Mary Sunlight".
16.
Jerry Reed co-starred in all three of the Smokey and the Bandit films; the first, which premiered in 1977, landed Reed a No 2 hit with the soundtrack's "East Bound and Down".
17.
In 1977, Jerry Reed joined entrepreneur Larry Schmittou and other country music stars including Conway Twitty, Cal Smith, Larry Gatlin, and Richard Sterban, as investors in the Nashville Sounds, a minor league baseball team of the Double-A Southern League that began play in 1978.
18.
Jerry Reed made two guest appearances on the sitcom Alice, in 1978 and 1981.
19.
Reed took a stab at hosting a TV variety show, filming two episodes of The Jerry Reed Show in 1976.
20.
Jerry Reed starred in a TV movie in that year entitled Concrete Cowboys.
21.
In January 1980, Jerry Reed began work on the "Guitar Man" re-recording being produced by Presley's producer Felton Jarvis.
22.
Jerry Reed guest-starred in the October 13,1983, episode of Mama's Family, "The Return of Leonard Oates", as Naomi Harper's ex-husband.
23.
Jerry Reed accepted an invitation to open for the British group Dexys Midnight Runners in the US in 1984, yet left the tour early to appear on the country music comedy TV show Hee-Haw.
24.
Jerry Reed acted as executive producer and screenwriter on this film.
25.
Jerry Reed starred in the 1998 Adam Sandler film The Waterboy as Red Beaulieu, the movie's chief antagonist and the head coach for the University of Louisiana Cougars football team.
26.
Jerry Reed teamed up with country superstars Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, and Bobby Bare in the group Old Dogs.
27.
Jerry Reed sang lead on "Young Man's Job" and "Elvis Has Left The Building", the latter possibly in deference to Elvis helping launch his career.
28.
Jerry Reed appeared as a guest on the fishing television series Bill Dance Outdoors.
29.
In one memorable appearance, Jerry Reed caught a particularly big largemouth bass and planned to have it preserved and mounted by a taxidermist.
30.
Host Bill Dance objected to this plan and freed the fish when Jerry Reed was not looking.
31.
Jerry Reed became enraged when he discovered what had happened and chased Dance off the boat and to shore.
32.
Jerry Reed married country singer Priscilla Mitchell on July 9,1959; they had two daughters who became country singers.
33.
Jerry Reed died in Nashville on September 1,2008, of complications from emphysema at the age of 71.
34.
Thom Bresh, son of Merle Travis and a close friend of Reed's, produced a 1990s video with Reed acting out his desire to quit smoking the addictive cigarettes that serves as a public service video from Reed on the dangers of smoking cigarettes.
35.
Jerry Reed's syncopated guitar playing style was influenced by Merle Travis and Earl Scruggs; this style was nicknamed the "claw", due to the appearance of Jerry Reed's hand as he played.
36.
Jerry Reed was influenced by comedians, saying that he admired them as much as musicians.