Biography
Baker Knight stands out among the rock & roll era’s most productive songwriters, having composed well over a thousand pieces across many styles, though his name is most often linked to the Elvis Presley success “The Wonder of You.” Thomas Baker Knight, Jr. came into the world on July 4, 1933, in Birmingham, AL; after losing his father at age six he grew up largely under the watch of assorted relatives. Following a three-year tour in the U.S. Air Force, where he first picked up the guitar, Knight enrolled in technical illustration at the University of Alabama yet spent his free hours writing songs, forming the rockabilly outfit the Knightmares in 1956 and cutting “Bop Boogie to the Blues” for the modest Kit label. Its successor, “Bring My Cadillac Back,” became a regional success and Decca secured national rights, only to see the track pulled from playlists for resembling an unpaid advertisement for Cadillac. Decca then paired Knight with arranger Ray Ellis on 1957’s “Reelin’ and Rockin’ (Bippin’ and Boppin’ Over You)”; when that release and the later singles “Just a Little Bit More” and “Love-A, Love-A, Love-A” also failed to register, the label ended the arrangement.
In 1958 Knight moved to Hollywood hoping for film work that never materialized. He quickly formed a close friendship with rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran and, according to legend, was invited to help shape Cochran’s immortal “Summertime Blues,” yet fell asleep and awoke only after the track had been finished. Through Cochran’s girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley, Knight began circulating his own material, first offering the evocative ballad “Lonesome Town” to the Everly Brothers; instead teen idol Rick Nelson recorded it, backed by guitarist James Burton, and scored a Top Ten pop hit in 1958. The Knight-penned flip side “I Got a Feeling” also reached the Top Ten. Nelson would ultimately record twenty-one of Knight’s songs, among them the million-selling “There’ll Never Be Anyone Else But You,” “Mighty Good,” and “Sweeter Than You.” Nelson also wanted to cut “Just Relax,” but Knight declined and cut the song himself for Coral, with Cochran adding guitar; the 1959 single flopped, and after “Pretty Little Girl” likewise failed to chart, Coral dropped him.
Knight originally wrote “The Wonder of You” for Perry Como, yet Como’s arranger Dick Pierce steered the number to Ray Peterson, whose 1959 version became a Top 30 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Elvis Presley, an admirer, added the song to his stage set in early 1970 and later released it as a single that topped the U.K. charts while achieving major U.S. success. By then Knight was firmly established as a songwriter, though he continued to record without notable impact on RCA, Chess, and Challenger. In early 1966 Dean Martin cut “Somewhere There’s a Someone,” the first of eleven Knight compositions the Rat Packer would record over the next six years. Knight also supplied material for Martin’s friend and Reprise owner Frank Sinatra, including the big-band ballad “Anytime at All,” and in 1965 signed to Reprise as a solo artist, debuting with “Man with a Plan.” Two years later he issued “I Feel Sick About the Whole Thing,” later prized for its elaborately psychedelic B-side “Hallucinations.” He likewise wrote for the Reprise psychedelic outfit the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, underscoring his knack for adapting to virtually any musical style.
During the 1970s Knight redirected his efforts toward the country market, penning hits for Ernest Ashworth (“A Week in the Country”), Hank Williams, Jr. (“One Night Stands”), Jerry Lee Lewis (“I Don’t Want to Be Lonely Tonight”), and Dave & Sugar (the Top Five smash “I’m Gonna Love You”). In 1976 Mickey Gilley topped the country charts with “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time,” earning Knight the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year award. A year later he signed with Warner Bros. for what proved his final major-label outing, “If Only.” Over his career Knight received eight BMI Citations of Achievement, yet in 1985 he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, sharply curtailing his work. He later built a home studio and eventually revived his dormant solo career, issuing the self-released LPs The Way I Hear It, Music Is My Woman, and the instrumental Music for Romantic Dreamers via his website. Shortly after completing his memoirs, A Piece of the Big-Time, Knight died of natural causes on October 12, 2005.
In 1958 Knight moved to Hollywood hoping for film work that never materialized. He quickly formed a close friendship with rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran and, according to legend, was invited to help shape Cochran’s immortal “Summertime Blues,” yet fell asleep and awoke only after the track had been finished. Through Cochran’s girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley, Knight began circulating his own material, first offering the evocative ballad “Lonesome Town” to the Everly Brothers; instead teen idol Rick Nelson recorded it, backed by guitarist James Burton, and scored a Top Ten pop hit in 1958. The Knight-penned flip side “I Got a Feeling” also reached the Top Ten. Nelson would ultimately record twenty-one of Knight’s songs, among them the million-selling “There’ll Never Be Anyone Else But You,” “Mighty Good,” and “Sweeter Than You.” Nelson also wanted to cut “Just Relax,” but Knight declined and cut the song himself for Coral, with Cochran adding guitar; the 1959 single flopped, and after “Pretty Little Girl” likewise failed to chart, Coral dropped him.
Knight originally wrote “The Wonder of You” for Perry Como, yet Como’s arranger Dick Pierce steered the number to Ray Peterson, whose 1959 version became a Top 30 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Elvis Presley, an admirer, added the song to his stage set in early 1970 and later released it as a single that topped the U.K. charts while achieving major U.S. success. By then Knight was firmly established as a songwriter, though he continued to record without notable impact on RCA, Chess, and Challenger. In early 1966 Dean Martin cut “Somewhere There’s a Someone,” the first of eleven Knight compositions the Rat Packer would record over the next six years. Knight also supplied material for Martin’s friend and Reprise owner Frank Sinatra, including the big-band ballad “Anytime at All,” and in 1965 signed to Reprise as a solo artist, debuting with “Man with a Plan.” Two years later he issued “I Feel Sick About the Whole Thing,” later prized for its elaborately psychedelic B-side “Hallucinations.” He likewise wrote for the Reprise psychedelic outfit the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, underscoring his knack for adapting to virtually any musical style.
During the 1970s Knight redirected his efforts toward the country market, penning hits for Ernest Ashworth (“A Week in the Country”), Hank Williams, Jr. (“One Night Stands”), Jerry Lee Lewis (“I Don’t Want to Be Lonely Tonight”), and Dave & Sugar (the Top Five smash “I’m Gonna Love You”). In 1976 Mickey Gilley topped the country charts with “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time,” earning Knight the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year award. A year later he signed with Warner Bros. for what proved his final major-label outing, “If Only.” Over his career Knight received eight BMI Citations of Achievement, yet in 1985 he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, sharply curtailing his work. He later built a home studio and eventually revived his dormant solo career, issuing the self-released LPs The Way I Hear It, Music Is My Woman, and the instrumental Music for Romantic Dreamers via his website. Shortly after completing his memoirs, A Piece of the Big-Time, Knight died of natural causes on October 12, 2005.
Albums
Singles
