Country and pop hit maker Bonnie Lou passed away in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at age 91.

The singer, guitarist, yodeler and TV personality had two top-10 country hits in 1953, “Seven Lonely Days” and “Tennessee Wig Walk.” She made the transition to rockabilly music with 1955’s “Daddy-O” and other singles.

She starred on The Midwestern Hayride on both radio and television for decades and also had a number of local Cincinnati solo programs.

Bonnie Lou was born Mary Joan Kath on Oct. 27, 1924 in Towanda, Illinois. She was taught to yodel by her Swiss grandmother. The child began playing the violin at age 6, switched to guitar at age 11 and debuted on radio at age 13.

She appeared on WMBD in Peoria, then became a regular performer on WJBC in Bloomington, Illinois. Her first stage name was “Mary Jo, The Yodeling Sweetheart.” After graduating from high school, she appeared on WLS in Chicago and KMBC in Kansas City. At KMBC, she became a star of The Sagebrush Follies show as “Sally Carson.” The show was carried on the CBS radio network.

In early 1945, WLW’s Bill McCluskey hired her for that station’s Midwestern Hayride in Cincinnati and renamed her Bonnie Lou. She remained a star of that show until it folded in 1972. Both The Sagebrush Follies and The Midwestern Hayride were ensemble-cast, radio barn-dance programs like the Grand Ole Opry.

The Midwestern Hayride began broadcasting on local television in 1948. From 1952 to 1959 it aired as a network-TV summer replacement series on NBC, then ABC.

Signed by King Records in 1953, Bonnie Lou scored immediate hits with “Seven Lonely Days” and “Tennessee Wig Walk.” As was the case with other artists who recorded for King, her session instrumentalists were racially integrated.

In 1954. she aimed for the teen market with “Two-Step, Side-Step.” The song was written by Murry Wilson, who fathered future Beach Boys members Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson. The bouncy “Daddy-O” became Bonnie Lou’s biggest rockabilly hit in 1955. Other teen-oriented singles included “La Dee Dah,” “Little Miss Bobby Sox,” “No Rock and Roll Tonight,” “Teen Age Wedding,” “The Barnyard Hop” and “I Let the School Bell Ding-a-Ling.”

She later recorded for Todd, Wrayco and other labels. The Cincinnati company Fraternity Records issued her highly regarded rockabilly single “Friction Heat” in 1958. Among her albums are Bonnie Lou Sings, Daddy-O, It’s Christmas Time Again and Raining Down Happiness.

In addition to appearing on The Midwestern Hayride, Bonnie Lou starred on such Cincinnati TV shows as The Paul Dixon Show and The Fifty Fifty Club. Husband Milt Okun owned a furniture store, and she appeared in commercials for it for decades. In the 1980s, she became an Ohio country radio disc jockey.

Bonnie Lou is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Ted Harris has died at age 78.

According to Hall of Fame executive director Mark Ford, Harris passed away on Sunday, Nov. 22. The Columbia Daily Herald reports that the songwriter died at his residence in Lewisburg, TN.

Among his best-known songwriting hits are Charley Pride’s “The Happiness of Having You,” Dottie West’s “Paper Mansions,” Ferlin Husky’s “Once” and the Glen Campbell/Steve Wariner duet “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.” The much-recorded country standard “Crystal Chandelier” is also a Ted Harris song. He is the most-awarded country songwriter in the history of SESAC.

Born Theodore Clifford Harris in 1937, the songwriter grew up in Lakeland, Florida. He began playing guitar at age 8 and was writing songs by age 12. After working at a local newspaper, he decided to move to Nashville at age 20.

He had no contacts in Music City, but his favorite star was Hank Snow (1914-1999), so he went to visit Snow’s publishing company, Silver Star. Snow turned the Harris-composed “Chasin’ a Rainbow” into a top-10 hit in 1959. He also recorded the songwriter’s “My Lucky Friend.”

Singer-songwriter-publisher Ted Daffan (1912-1996) became the Nashville newcomer’s mentor. Despite the encouragement of Snow and Daffan, Ted Harris worked in the grocery business during his first seven years in Nashville.

In 1965, Harris co-founded his Harbot Music Publishing company. Later that year, Carl Belew recorded “Crystal Chandelier,” which became a top-10 smash. The song was subsequently recorded by dozens of others, including Mac Wiseman, Louis Armstrong, Dickey Lee, Johnny Russell, Billie Jo Spears, Charley Pride, Warner Mack and Vic Dana, who made it a pop hit.

In 1966, Ted Harris scored with “Once,” which became a major hit for Ferlin Husky. Roy Drusky recorded “Rainbows and Roses.” Dottie West followed with 1967’s “Paper Mansions,” another big hit.

Ted Harris became one of the earliest members of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) in 1968. The following year, he won the first of four consecutive SESAC awards as Country Songwriter of the Year.

“You and Me Against the World” became a hit for Bobby Lord in 1970. This song has also been recorded by Roy Rogers, and as a duet by Jimmy Dean & Dottie West (1970) and Jack Greene & Jeannie Seely (1973).

Similarly, Harris’s song “Here I Go Again” was a hit for Bobby Wright in 1971 and was subsequently recorded by Lynn Anderson, Del Reeves and Nat Stuckey. In 1972, Ted Harris collected a still unequalled 17 SESAC awards as both a songwriter and publisher. By this time, he had become a board member of the Country Music Association (CMA).

Charley Pride took the Ted Harris song “The Happiness of Having You” up the charts in 1976. It won SESAC’s Country Song of the Year award.
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (Rules the World)” became a 1987 smash for Glen Campbell and Steve Wariner. It won yet another SESAC award. Harris has 87 of these.

Others who have recorded Ted Harris songs include Crystal Gayle, Leroy Van Dyke, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, The Wilburn Brothers, Cal Smith, Conway Twitty, Floyd Cramer, Jerry Wallace, Ray Pillow, Kitty Wells, Wilma Burgess, Porter Wagoner, Vern Gosdin, Johnny Duncan, Charlie Louvin, Jean Shepard, Margie Singleton and Connie Smith.

Ted Harris is uncommon in that he wrote almost all of his hits solo. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1990. He retired in 2001 and sold his publishing company to Sony-ATV. But he remained active on the Nashville scene, occasionally playing at songwriter showcases and pitching his catalog’s tunes.

Ted Harris is survived by wife Jackie, by sons Bradley and Joshua and by three grandchildren.

Visitation is scheduled for today (Nov. 24) at the London Funeral Home in Lewisburg, Tennessee from 4:00-8:00 p.m. The funeral service will be on Wednesday (Nov. 25) at the East Commerce Baptist Church in Lewisburg.

Singer, songwriter and former Music Row executive Tommy Overstreet passed away on Nov. 2 at his home in Hillsboro, Oregon.

He performed his final show two years ago, and his health deteriorated thereafter. He began home hospice care about a month ago and died from complications relating to emphysema at age 78.

Overstreet enjoyed a run of success on the Billboard country charts during the 1970s. His Top 10 hits included “Gwen (Congratulations)” (1971), “I Don’t Know You (Anymore)” (1971), “Ann (Don’t Go Runnin’)” (1972), “Heaven Is My Woman’s Love” (1972), “Send Me No Roses” (1973), “I’ll Never Break These Chains” (1973), “(Jeannie Marie) You Were a Lady” (1974), “If I Miss You Again Tonight” (1974), “I’m a Believer” (1975), “That’s When My Woman Begins” (1975) and “Don’t Go City Girl On Me” (1977). He was a frequent guest on the national TV show Hee Haw.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1937, Tommy Overstreet was the cousin of 1920s pop superstar Gene Austin, whose million-sellers included “My Blue Heaven,” “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” “Ramona” “Bye, Bye Blackbird” and “Tonight You Belong to Me.” Overstreet always cited Austin as a major influence.

He rose to singing prominence as a teenager in Texas. Overstreet appeared regularly on Houston television in the early 1960s on a show called Kitchen Canteen. He also appeared in a Houston musical titled Hit the Road.

Overstreet attended the University of Texas in Abilene, studying radio and TV production. He appeared on local radio and television stations there as “Tommy Dean From Abilene.” During summer months, he toured with cousin Gene Austin, learning to be a show-business professional.

After serving in the U.S. Army, Overstreet moved to Los Angeles to write songs and record pop music. Returning to Texas, he worked with Slim Willet, of “Don’t Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes” fame, then formed his own band in the mid 1960s.

Overstreet came to Nashville in 1967. He became the manager of the Dot Records office that year. His hits for the label led to popularity overseas, as well as in the U.S. During his hit-making days, he did more than 30 international tours. The International Rodeo Association named him its Entertainer of the Year in 1979, 1980 and 1982.

When Dot merged with ABC in 1974, Overstreet left as an executive but remained as an artist for the company. He moved to Elektra Records in 1979. He subsequently recorded for the AMI, Gervasi, Silver Dollar and Madacy labels.

With his band The Nashville Express, the star logged more than a million miles on his tour bus, driving it himself during his early years. Overstreet moved to Branson, Missouri in 1985. He opened a restaurant and became a headliner in the tourism mecca.

Between 1969 and 1986, Overstreet placed 34 singles on the Billboard charts. In addition to the hits listed above, notable recorded performances included “If Love Was a Bottle of Wine” (1977), “Yes Ma’am” (1978), “Fadin’ In, Fadin’ Out” (1978), “This Time I’m In It For the Love” (1977), “What More Could a Man Need” (1979) and a cover of the Gary Puckett pop hit “Young Girl” (1976).

Overstreet was noted for his mellow baritone, good looks, distinctive white hair, snappy attire and optimistic personality. He recorded more than 25 albums, authored a memoir and co-wrote a children’s book. His songs were recorded by Tony Booth, Pat Boone, Tequila Sunrise and Tommy Cash, among others.

Tommy Overstreet moved to Hillsboro, Oregon in 2001 to be near his wife’s parents.

He is survived by wife Diane and daughters Ariel, Amber and Lisa. His son and road manager, Thomas, died in an accident in 1986.

A memorial service will take place on Sun., Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. at Evergreen Christian Center in Hillsboro, Oregon.