Billy Crash Craddock

Billy "Crash" Craddock saw his early bid for stardom as a 1950s teen idol collapse, prompting a return to his deepest passion, country music, where a run of successful releases in the 1970s earned him the enduring tag "Mr. Country Rock." Born in Greensboro, NC, in 1939, he first picked up that nickname as a high-school running back and developed an intense devotion to the Grand Ole Opry while growing up. Late in the 1950s he joined Columbia, but the label bypassed any country positioning and instead cast him as a teen idol by recording him on a blend of Elvis-style rockabilly numbers and pop ballads. He did score three hits in Australia, yet registered none at home, and after issuing a single 1964 album on King titled I'm Tore Up, he remained largely inactive. The picture changed in 1971 when he signed with Cartwheel Records, this time presented as a country artist. His opening five singles—a remake of "Knock Three Times," "Dream Lover," "You Better Move On," "Ain't Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on The Trees)," and "I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door"—all reached the country Top Ten across 1971-1972. He then moved to ABC and claimed his first chart-topper with 1974's "Rub It In," which also crossed into the pop Top 20. Additional successes arrived, among them a second number one in 1975 with a remake of the Drifters' "Ruby Baby" and a third in 1977's "Broken Down in Tiny Pieces." Altogether Craddock placed 18 singles inside the country Top Ten from 1971 to 1979, his final entry being "If I Could Write a Song as Beautiful as You." He recorded for Capitol in the late '70s and early '80s, by which point his commercial momentum had begun to fade.