Music Row Veteran Martha Sharp Passes

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Martha Sharp. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Martha Sharp, who had successful careers as both a songwriter and a record-label executive, died on Wednesday morning (Dec. 11) at age 87.

She wrote a series of pop hits in Music City in the 1960s. She reemerged as a longtime A&R executive at Warner in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Among her signings to the label were the superstars Randy Travis and Faith Hill.

Martha Marion Sharp was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1937. She attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, Virginia, and Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. She came to Music City in 1963 to become a songwriter.

Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Sharp signed with Painted Desert Music as a staff songwriter in Nashville. Producer Chips Moman found her song “Born a Woman.” He brought Memphis singer Sandy Posey to Muscle Shoals to record it in 1966, and it became a big pop hit.

Next, Bob Beckham signed Sharp to Combine Music on Music Row and published the songwriter’s next Sandy Posey hit, 1967’s “Single Girl.” This became Maratha Sharp’s most recorded composition. An appreciative Sharp wrote the liner notes for Posey’s third album.

Pop star Bobby Vee dipped into Sharp’s Painted Desert catalog to record her song “Come Back When You Grow Up.” It hit No. 3 on the pop hit parade in 1967 and became Sharp’s biggest songwriting hit. She also wrote “Maybe Just Today” as a Bobby Lee single of 1968.

Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Eddy Arnold had a minor country success with her song “You Fool” in 1969. Irish crooner Val Doonican had a top 10 U.K. hit in 1965 with Sharp’s “The Special Years.” In 1970, Jean Shepard had a top 20 country hit with the songwriter’s “I Want You Free.”

Her songs were also recorded by Tom Jones, Connie Smith, Waylon Jennings, Nick Lowe, Barbara Eden, The Browns, Dottie West, Jan Howard, Leif Garrett, Johnny Tillotson, Cilla Black, The Lennon Sisters, Wilma Burgess, Brook Benton and several European artists. Martha Sharp mainly wrote solo, although a few of her songs were cowritten with Larry Butler. One of these was “Another Goodbye Song,” which Rex Allen Jr. took onto the country charts in 1974.

Martha Sharp on the cover of MusicRow Magazine in 1995

Combine Music was owned by Fred Foster, who also owned Monument Records. He co-produced a 1973 Monument album for Martha Sharp titled Anywoman. This was her only recording. Her fellow Combine/Monument signee Kris Kristofferson wrote its liner notes.

Martha Sharp’s skill as a songwriter led her into A&R work, finding songs and singers for country record labels. She initially worked for Jimmy Bowen at Elektra Records in 1980, then moved to Warner when it absorbed the company in 1983. Under Warner leader Jim Ed Norman, Sharp was named a vice president of the label.

At Warner, Sharp signed Randy Travis after he’d been turned down by every record company in Music City. She also took a chance on an unknown Faith Hill. She was involved with the Warner careers of Highway 101, Carlene Carter, The Forester Sisters, Crystal Gayle, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Anderson, Gary Morris, Holly Dunn, Travis Tritt and the company’s other stars of that era. Sharp contracted with producers, recording studios, mastering labs and all other aspects of record production.

Martha Sharp retired from the record label in 1995 and moved to Richmond, Virginia to pursue her avocation as a painter. She returned to Music City about a decade ago. In 2014, Leadership Music and SOURCE presented a panel discussion with Sharp and RCA’s Mary Martin about Nashville’s pioneering female A&R executives.

Martha Sharp is survived by her brothers, Hardin Marion of Lexington, Virginia, and Dave Marion of Zephyr Cove, Nevada. There will not be a funeral.

Robert K Oermann
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