Biography
Steel guitarist Tommy Durden backed Johnny Cash, Tex Ritter, and other country headliners without most audiences noticing his instrument work, skilled though it was. Instead he secured a permanent spot in rock & roll history by co-writing “Heartbreak Hotel,” Elvis Presley’s debut RCA-Victor single and his first national chart entry. Born in Georgia and raised in Florida, Durden was performing with a Jacksonville group when he read a newspaper account of a suicide whose note ended with the line “I walk a lonely street.” Captivated by the phrase, he supplied lyrics that Mae Boren Axton of Nashville set to music, producing “Heartbreak Hotel.” Sam Philips, who had issued Presley’s earlier sides, detested the song, and no one at the January 1956 session foresaw its success. The track bore no resemblance to Presley’s prior recordings or any he would later make. Only after the singer sang it on the Dorsey Brothers’ television show a few weeks following release did the single begin its climb, eventually becoming 1956’s top seller. Even the pop-oriented Your Hit Parade could not ignore it, presenting a big-band arrangement of the number. The song later resurfaced on countless hits anthologies and career retrospectives well into the compact-disc era. Presley’s manager, Tom Parker, secured the singer’s name on the songwriting credits, guaranteeing Presley—and therefore Parker—a share of publishing income. Durden eventually settled in Houghton Lake, Michigan, and kept touring for years with the Cash and Ritter ensembles. He continued writing, yet nothing approached the commercial reach of “Heartbreak Hotel,” whose royalties nevertheless supplied steady income for more than four decades.