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Longtime Grand Ole Opry member Billy Grammer dies
Posted: Aug 10, 2011 3:14 PM by AP Posted by James H Egbert
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Billy Grammer, whose 1958 hit "Gotta Travel On"' hit the top of the charts and led to a long career on the Grand Ole Opry, has died. He was 85.
A statement from Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman Jessie Schmidt says Grammer died Wednesday morning in his home state of Illinois of natural causes.
Grammer, a singer and guitarist who also was a Nashville recording session musician, suffered a heart attack in late March 2011 while visiting Plano, Texas.
He performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1959.
"Gotta Travel On," adapted from a British folk tune, was a million-seller and the first hit for Nashville's Monument Records and its famed founder, Fred Foster. It was a hit on the pop, country and rhythm & blues charts.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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