Guide Note

Grammy award winning Marty Robbins was a country music singer who's 1959 hit song "El Paso" was the first country song ever awarded a Grammy. Other hit songs by Robbins include "Tonight Carmen," "I Walk Alone" and " Ruby Ann"

Robbins also owned and drove a car in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He served in the Navy during World War ll as an LCT coxswain, where he also learned how to play the guitar.

Fast Facts

1. Born: September 26, 1925
2. Died: December 8, 1982
3. Origin: Phoenix, Arizona
4. Label: Columbia
5. 1966-1982: Raced in 36 NASCAR races
6. 1975: Inducted into The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
7. Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998 for his song "El Paso"

Partial Discography

• 1960: Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
• 1964: R.F.D.
• 1964: Return Of The Gunfighter
• 1965: It's A Sin
• 1966: The Drifter
• 1967: My Kind Of Country
• 1967: Tonight Carmen
• 1968: By The Time I Get To Phoenix
• 1968: I Walk Alone
• 1970: My Woman, My Woman, My Wife
• 1971: Marty Robbins' Greatest Hits, Vol. III
• 1973: This Much A Man
• 1974: Good'n Country
• 1976: El Paso City
• 1977: Adios Amigo

Trivia

1. The Beasts of Bourbon released a song called "The Day Marty Robbins Died" on their 1984 Debut LP The Axeman's Jazz.
2. Elvis Presley performed "You Gave Me A Mountain" over 500 times between 1972 and 1977.
3. Robbins portrayed a musician in the 1982 Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man. Robbins died a few weeks before the film's release in December 1982.
4. The city of El Paso, Texas honored Robbins by naming a park and a recreational center after him.
5. The University of Texas at El Paso asked for and received permission from Robbins to use a fast-paced version of 'El Paso' as the university's fight song.