Grand Ole Opry star Mel McDaniel passed away Thursday evening at age 68.
He had been battling cancer for several years. The Oklahoma native has been an Opry cast member since Jan. 11, 1986.
McDaniel is noted for such hits as “Gentle to Your Senses” (1977), “God Made Love” (1978), “Right in the Palm of Your Hand” (1981), “Take Me To the Country” (1982) and “I Call it Love” (1983).
He was best known for his rollicking, rousing, uptempo signature songs “Louisiana Saturday Night” (1981), “Preaching Up a Storm” (1981), “Big Ole Brew” (1982), “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” (1984), “Let it Roll” (1985), “Stand Up” (1985), “Real Good Feel Good Song” (1988) and his cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Stand on It” (1986).
His No. 1 hit “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” was nominated for both a Grammy and a CMA Award.
McDaniel was also notable as a songwriter. In addition to co-writing his hit “God Made Love,” he cowrote Conway Twitty’s 1978 hit “The Grandest Lady of Them All.” Bobby Goldsboro’s 1981 hit “Goodbye Marie” was a McDaniel song, and it was revived on the charts by Kenny Rogers in 1986. Hoyt Axton sang McDaniel’s “Roll Your Own,” and his songs were also recorded by Doug Kershaw, Livewire and other artists.
Mel McDaniel was born Sept, 6, 1942 in Checotah, OK. The town later gained further notoriety as the girlhood home of current superstar Carrie Underwood. After apprenticing in the honky-tonks of Tulsa, McDaniel served a two-year stint in the nightclubs of Anchorage, Alaska before moving to Music City in 1974.
He sang at local Holiday Inn lounges and recorded song demos on Music Row before signing with Capitol Records in 1976. He remained with the label until 1990.
In 1996, he was badly hurt when he fell from a stage in Louisiana. His injuries were nearly fatal, and he never fully recovered. Nevertheless, he continued to appear on the Opry and never failed to get audiences to “Stand Up.”
His most recent album was 2006’s Reloaded: Tried True and New, released by Aspirion Records.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

ASCAP released its financial results for 2010 today (3/31), showing a dip in total revenues and member distributions since last year’s record highs. The information was presented at the organization’s General Annual Membership Meeting in New York City.
Financial distributions to members in 2010 totaled $845 million, down 2.1% versus the 2009 high of over $863 million. Distributions to members in 2008 totaled $818.9 million.
2010 revenue totaled $935 million. This is 6% below 2009’s high of $995 million. Total revenue for 2008 was $946.7 million.
According to the organization, the impact of a weak economy has resulted in lower payments from those customers paying on a percentage of revenue basis. In addition during 2010, ASCAP received a reduced interim radio rate.
According to John LoFrumento, ASCAP CEO, “Looking to the future, we see ongoing challenges to member financial distributions. We are working tirelessly to add new licensing opportunities and to utilize new technologies to control operating costs.”
ASCAP remained a 13.9% operating expense ratio.
At the end of 2010, ASCAP elected its 400,000th member, just one of the 32,000-plus new members it adds each year.

Victoria Shaw helmed production for a new pop/country album by CNN HLN anchor Robin Meade. The singer debuted songs from the project on Monday night (3/28) at New York City’s legendary Birdland club.
Shaw, who also produced Lady Antebellum’s debut album, joined Meade onstage for the event, bringing along fellow Nashville tunesmith Gary Burr.
For the finale, Meade recruited famous pals Joy Behar (The View) and Jane Velez-Mitchell (HLN) to join her onstage for her take on the Don Henley hit “Dirty Laundry.” The cover will be on her album, hitting Target stores in June.

Meade, Shaw, Velez-Mitchell and Behar onstage at NYC's Birdland Club. Photo credit: Derek Storm