Biography
Born Warner MacPherson to a Presbyterian minister, Warner Mack grew up in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he learned guitar on his own during his teenage years. Although college baseball and football programs recruited him and the St. Louis Cardinals extended a professional offer, he chose a music career instead. Early appearances on the KWKH Louisiana Hayride and Red Foley’s Ozark Jamboree built his audience while he continued working days at a local tire company and announcing at a Vicksburg radio station.
In the late 1950s Mack relocated to Nashville. He began recording for Decca in 1957, the label inadvertently shortening his surname to “Mack” when an office secretary mislabeled his contract. His first single, the self-penned “Is It Wrong (For Loving You),” reached the country Top Ten, remained on the charts for more than nine months, and crossed over as a modest pop success. Later he moved to Kapp Records and cut several albums there before returning to the Grand Ole Opry stage and re-signing with Decca, where “Sittin’ in an All Nite Cafe” climbed to the Top Five.
A severe car accident in 1964 sidelined him for months, yet he returned in 1965 with “The Bridge Washed Out,” his biggest success and a chart-topper that held the summit for several months. Additional hits—“Sittin’ on a Rock (Crying in a Creek),” “Talkin’ to the Wall,” and “Leave My Dreams Alone”—kept him on the charts through 1973, the year he departed Decca. Four years afterward he joined Pageboy Records and scored one final minor entry, “These Crazy Thoughts (Run Through My Mind).” In 2020 he issued the comeback album Better Than Ever. Warner Mack died in Nashville on March 1, 2022, at the age of 86.
In the late 1950s Mack relocated to Nashville. He began recording for Decca in 1957, the label inadvertently shortening his surname to “Mack” when an office secretary mislabeled his contract. His first single, the self-penned “Is It Wrong (For Loving You),” reached the country Top Ten, remained on the charts for more than nine months, and crossed over as a modest pop success. Later he moved to Kapp Records and cut several albums there before returning to the Grand Ole Opry stage and re-signing with Decca, where “Sittin’ in an All Nite Cafe” climbed to the Top Five.
A severe car accident in 1964 sidelined him for months, yet he returned in 1965 with “The Bridge Washed Out,” his biggest success and a chart-topper that held the summit for several months. Additional hits—“Sittin’ on a Rock (Crying in a Creek),” “Talkin’ to the Wall,” and “Leave My Dreams Alone”—kept him on the charts through 1973, the year he departed Decca. Four years afterward he joined Pageboy Records and scored one final minor entry, “These Crazy Thoughts (Run Through My Mind).” In 2020 he issued the comeback album Better Than Ever. Warner Mack died in Nashville on March 1, 2022, at the age of 86.
Albums
