Dennis Linde was an American singer and songwriter whose work was primarily in country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

He is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, "Burning Love

Burning Love

"Burning Love" is a song written by Dennis Linde, first recorded by Arthur Alexander, who included it on his self-titled 1971 album, and made famous by Elvis Presley, who took it to #2 in the United States in 1972...

". Presley performed the song live a few times, but often had trouble with the lyrics and soon deleted it from his playlist, although he did perform it during his famous show Aloha from Hawaii. Dennis Linde wrote numerous hit songs for mainly country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singers, beginning with hits for Roger Miller

Roger Miller

Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...

 and Roy Drusky

Roy Drusky

Roy Frank Drusky Jr., was an American country music singer popular from the 1960s through the early 1970s. Known for his baritone voice, he was known for incorporating the Nashville sound. His highest-charting single was the No. 1 "Yes Mr. Peters", a duet with Priscilla Mitchell.-Early life and...

 in 1970. In 2000, his song for the Dixie Chicks

Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...

, "Goodbye Earl

Goodbye Earl

"Goodbye Earl", written by Dennis Linde, is a country music song. Initially recorded by the band Sons of the Desert for an unreleased album in the late 1990s, the song gained fame when it was recorded by the Dixie Chicks on their second studio album featuring Natalie Maines as lead vocalist on...

", stirred some controversy for its take on spousal abuse. Linde also wrote tunes that were recorded by Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker

Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...

, Gary Morris

Gary Morris

Gary Gwyn Morris is an American country music artist who charted a string of countrypolitan-styled hit songs throughout the 1980s....

, Don Williams

Don Williams

Don Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...

, The Judds

The Judds

The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

, Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

, Mark Chesnutt

Mark Chesnutt

Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer. Chesnutt recorded and released his first album, Doing My Country Thing, in the late-1980s on private independent record label, Axbar Records, with the vinyl album version now a collector's item...

 and Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

, among several other acts. He also wrote two songs for the film Grease 2

Grease 2

Grease 2 is a 1982 American musical film and sequel to Grease, which is based upon the musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease 2 was produced by Allan Carr and Robert Stigwood, and directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch, who also choreographed the first film...

: "Cool Rider" and "Reproduction."

Linde was the sole writer of most of his songs, but he had also collaborated with the likes of country artist Mel McDaniel

Mel McDaniel

Mel McDaniel was an American country music artist. His chart making years were mainly the 1980s and his hits from that era include "Louisiana Saturday Night", "Big Ole Brew", "Stand Up", the Number One "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On", "I Call It Love", "Stand on It", and a remake of Chuck Berry's...

 and Nashville songwriter Bob DiPiero

Bob DiPiero

Bob DiPiero is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15. U.S. Number 1 hits and countless top 20 hits for the likes of Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery...

.

He was known as one of the more reclusive figures on the Nashville scene, rarely attending industry events and preferring not to be photographed or interviewed. Nashville manager Scott Siman described him as a "mystery man," explaining, "If you ever saw Dennis Linde it was amazing, because you didn't get that opportunity very often."

In 2001, Linde was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is uniquely associated with music community in the city of...

.

Linde died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, progressive form of lung disease characterized by fibrosis of the supporting framework of the lungs...

 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a collection of several hospitals and clinics, as well as the schools of medicine and nursing associated with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.It comprises the following units:...

 on December 22, 2006. He was 63.

His daughter, Lisa Linde,was married to actor James Marsden

James Marsden

James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...

,she had filed for divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

 September,23,2011 after eleven years of marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

.

Albums

• 1970 - Linde Manor
• 1971 - Surface Noise (unreleased)
• 1973 - Dennis Linde
• 1974 - Trapped in the Suburbs
• 1977 - Under the Eye