Larry Gatlin

Larry Gatlin's talent has brought him many rewards: international fame, a Grammy, many No. 1 song hits, a starring role on Broadway, two films, and an aging, nasty horse named Old Dan, whom Gatlin won when the singer was 11 years old. By then, Gatlin already had been a professional vocalist for four years, having begun singing on an Abilene, Texas, Sunday morning radio show for 10 cents a week. Although he entered the Universty of Houston as an English major on a football scholarship and later enrolled in law school, singing was Gatlin's true love. Luck and skill were on his side when he met Dottie West in Las Vegas and she asked him to send her some songs. He did and she returned the favor with a one-way ticket to Nashville. "Dottie threw me into the company of folks at Combine Music/Monument Records like Red Lane, Mickey Newbury, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Roger Miller," said Gatlin. Gatlin released his maiden album, The Pilgrims, in 1974, hit No. 1 in 1975 with Broken Lady, a song that also brought him a Grammy in 1976. In 1977, he joined forces with his family, Rudy, Steve and LaDonna, and the hits started flowing. "That really came natural. We're just full of good West Texas b.s. and we don't mind sharing it with the folks," said Gatlin. "One of my great influences was Jimmy Dean. That man knows how to entertain." Larry Gatlin continued songwriting, singing and entertaining and in 1993 copped the title role of the Tony-award-winnning musical, Will Rogers Follies, which engaged him for seven months on Broadway. Since then, Gatlin has entainained U.S. military personnel around the world on Christmas USO tours and has starred in the national road tour of Follies. He also launched, in 1994, a musical he wrote and scored, Alive and Well, and speaks to young people about drug and alcohol abuse.