Conway Twitty Biography

He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies, served in the Korean War and even owns a booking agency, but with a name like Conway Twitty the ‘ol dog's gotta be a country music superstar. His name was derived from the combination of an Arkansas and a Texas city, respectively, and Twitty's insanely successful musical career has catapulted the name Conway Twitty into oblivion (or at least among Nashville's most successful stars).The Mississippi-born, Arkansas-raised Twitty was born with the name Harold Lloyd Jenkins, and he joined his first musical excursion in the form of the Phillips Country Ramblers when he was 10. His love of country, blues and gospel music steered him toward a career in music, even despite being offered a baseball contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Drafted into the Korean War, Twitty sang with a country band the Cimarrons while in the Far East, returning to the U.S. in 1956 to turn down the deal with the Phillies and pursue a musical career with the inspiration of Elvis backing him up.Starting out in Memphis with a rocky career, Twitty eventually moved to MGM Records, where It's Only Make Believe hit number one on the charts in 1958. Releasing a string of hit singles and acting in a few B-list films, Twitty's musical fame seemingly washed up as quickly as it had some. Dropped by MGM, Twitty crossed over completely from rock ‘n roll to country music, inking a deal with Decca and releasing 12 Top Five singles in the next few years. A professional relationship with Loretta Lynn began in 1970, and the two produced a number of career-lifting hits together and separately. Plowing through hit songs and albums, Twitty eventually switched to pop covers with Elektra in 1981, ultimately going back to MCA and releasing huge hits like Julia and I Want to Know You Before We Make Love before his sudden death in 1993.