PALM DESERT, California (AP) – Jimmie Rodgers, singer of the 1957 hits “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine”, whose music and film career was interrupted by a serious head injury a decade later, died at the age of 87 .
Rodgers died of kidney disease on January 18 in Palm Desert, California, and also tested positive for COVID-19, publicist Alan Eichler said on Saturday, citing family.
Rodgers performed for $ 10 a night in Nashville while working there with the U.S. Air Force after the Korean War. He showed up at a talent show and got a test with Roulette Records, which hired him after hearing him play “Honeycomb”, a song by Bob Merrill.
With a style of singing and playing guitar that included elements of country, folk and pop, the native of Camas, Washington, recorded many other Top 10 hits during the late 1950s, including “Secretly”, “Oh-Oh, I ‘m Falling in Love Again ”and“ Are you really mine? ”
Rodgers continued to make albums through most of the 1960s, producing music that ranged from covers of traditional songs like “The Wreck Of The ‘John B.’” and “English Country Garden” to popular dishes like the ballad “Child of Clay. “
He settled on television with shows on variety shows when he started acting in the cinema during the 1960s. His film credits include “The Little Shepherd of the Kingdom Come” and “Porta do Inferno”, with young Jack Nicholson.
In 1967, Rodgers was found in his car on a Los Angeles highway suffering from a skill fracture and other injuries. He said he pulled over and stopped in response to a driver behind him who was flashing his headlights and that an attack by an off-duty policeman caused head injuries.
“I lowered the window to ask what the problem was,” he told The Toronto Star in 1987. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
Los Angeles police officers insisted that Rodgers was injured by falling while drunk. Rodgers filed a lawsuit and agreed to a $ 200,000 settlement. He later developed a condition that caused his voice box muscles to spasm. He also had occasional seizures, which he said were due to the attack.
After his initial recovery, Rodgers had a summer TV show at ABC in 1969 and also performed at his own theater in Branson, Missouri.
In a 2016 interview with The Spectrum, a Utah newspaper, Rodgers remembered finding a $ 10 guitar and singing when he was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea in 1953.
“We were sitting on the floor with only candles to light, and those tough soldiers had tears streaming down their faces. I realized that if my music could have that effect, this is what I wanted to do with my life, ”he said.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Louise Biggerstaff, and five children from three marriages.
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