Biography
Born around 1931 in Kentucky as Don Lloyd Amburgey, the future songwriter grew up amid music as one of six siblings. His three sisters performed as the Sunshine Girls—Irene, Bertha, and Opal—while Irene, after wedding James Roberts, gained recognition as the country gospel vocalist Martha Carson. Bertha performed alongside Bill Carlisle, and Opal, under the name Jean Chapel, emerged as a rockabilly performer. At her urging, after she cut his composition “I’ve Got A Mem’ry (You Can’t Touch),” Amburgey turned his focus to writing and began using Chapel as his professional surname. Over subsequent decades his compositions, some created with co-writers, reached the catalogs of Lynn Anderson, Doug Kershaw, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Louvin, Melba Montgomery, Webb Pierce, Ray Price, Ernest Tubb, and Conway Twitty.
Throughout the 1960s Chapel held positions at multiple labels, occasionally stepping in front of the microphone yet primarily supplying material for others. Late in the decade he and his daughter Donna Chapel, who would later pursue her own country career, cut the duets “Take A Little Goodwill Home” and “We’ve Got Love.” His son Mike, one of three children, handled drums and later moved into production; together the three appeared as the Chapperones. In 1967 Chapel married Tammy Wynette. The couple collaborated briefly, and Donna sang backup for Wynette for a time. Both partners brought three children into the union, yet mounting personal and professional strains led to divorce the following year. Wynette nevertheless preserved several of his songs on record, among them “Together We Stand, Divided We Fall,” a duet with David Houston, plus “Joey,” “My Heart Is Soakin’ Wet,” and “All Night Long.”
Chapel’s most frequently interpreted number, “When The Grass Grows Over Me,” received a landmark reading from George Jones, who also taped “Let’s Get Together.” Additional titles from his pen encompass “From Here To The Door,” “Call Off The Party Tonight,” “Misty Morning Rain,” “Everything Is Coming Back But You,” “Feed It To The Fish,” and “Loving You Is A Way Of Life With Me.” Among the tracks Chapel himself committed to tape are “Here We Go Again,” “Hurtin’ Time,” “Summer Winds,” and “Flowers And Candy.” Although songwriting remained his principal vocation, he continued to perform, including appearances on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
Throughout the 1960s Chapel held positions at multiple labels, occasionally stepping in front of the microphone yet primarily supplying material for others. Late in the decade he and his daughter Donna Chapel, who would later pursue her own country career, cut the duets “Take A Little Goodwill Home” and “We’ve Got Love.” His son Mike, one of three children, handled drums and later moved into production; together the three appeared as the Chapperones. In 1967 Chapel married Tammy Wynette. The couple collaborated briefly, and Donna sang backup for Wynette for a time. Both partners brought three children into the union, yet mounting personal and professional strains led to divorce the following year. Wynette nevertheless preserved several of his songs on record, among them “Together We Stand, Divided We Fall,” a duet with David Houston, plus “Joey,” “My Heart Is Soakin’ Wet,” and “All Night Long.”
Chapel’s most frequently interpreted number, “When The Grass Grows Over Me,” received a landmark reading from George Jones, who also taped “Let’s Get Together.” Additional titles from his pen encompass “From Here To The Door,” “Call Off The Party Tonight,” “Misty Morning Rain,” “Everything Is Coming Back But You,” “Feed It To The Fish,” and “Loving You Is A Way Of Life With Me.” Among the tracks Chapel himself committed to tape are “Here We Go Again,” “Hurtin’ Time,” “Summer Winds,” and “Flowers And Candy.” Although songwriting remained his principal vocation, he continued to perform, including appearances on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
Albums