Jack Clement
Encyclopedia
Jack Henderson Clement is an American
singer, songwriter
, and a record
and film producer
.
Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age. In 1953, he made his first record for the Sheraton label in Boston, Massachusetts but did not immediately pursue a full time career in music, instead choosing to study at Memphis State University from 1953 to 1955. Nicknamed 'Cowboy' Jack Clement, during his student days he played steel guitar
with a local band, and in 1956 became part of one of the seminal events in rock and roll
history when he went to work as a producer and engineer for Sam Phillips
at Sun Records
. There, Clement worked with future stars such as Roy Orbison
, Carl Perkins
and Johnny Cash
. But most importantly, he discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis
while Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida
(one of those recordings, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," was selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry
at the Library of Congress). In 1957, Clement wrote the song "Ballad of a Teenage Queen
" that became a crossover
hit for Johnny Cash. Other Cash hits written by Clement included "Guess Things Happen That Way
", which was # 1 country and # 11 pop in 1958, and the humorous "The One on the Right Is on the Left
", which was a # 2 country and # 46 pop hit in 1966. Clement performed "Guess Things Happen That Way
" on the Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute show on CMT
in November 2003.
In 1959, Clement accepted an offer to work as a producer at RCA
in Nashville
, then the most important label in the industry. Clement went on to become a significant figure in the Nashville music business, establishing a publishing business, and his own recording studio, making records for stars such as Charley Pride
and Ray Stevens
. In 1971, he co-founded the J-M-I Record Company.
Jack Clement wrote a number of highly successful songs that have been recorded by singing stars such as Johnny Cash
, Dolly Parton
, Ray Charles
, Carl Perkins
, Bobby Bare
, Elvis Presley
, Jim Reeves
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Cliff Richard
,
Charley Pride
, Tom Jones
, Dickey Lee
and Hank Snow
. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1973. He also produced albums by Townes Van Zandt
and Waylon Jennings
.
Clement was involved in a few film projects as a singer or songwriter on soundtrack
s, and produced the 1975 horror film
Dear Dead Delilah that marked the last film performance by actress Agnes Moorehead
.
In 1987 Clement was approached by U2
to record at legendary Sun Studio
in Memphis, TN. He had never heard of U2 but took the session based on the urging of someone else in his office. The result was a portion of the U2 album Rattle and Hum
("When Love Came To Town" with BB King, "Angel of Harlem" about Billie Holiday, and "Love Rescue Me" with backing vocals by Bob Dylan), as well as the Woody Guthrie song "Jesus Christ," which appeared on 1988's "Folkways: A Vision Shared—A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. Portions of the 2 sessions also appear in the film Rattle and Hum.
In 2005, a documentary on Clement entitled Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan was created by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, pieced together from Clement's home videos and interviews with peers, including Jerry Lee Lewis
and Bono
.
Clement currently hosts a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Outlaw country
(channel 60) from 2pm to 6pm (Eastern) on Saturdays.
Jack Clement has been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
and the Music City Walk of Fame
.
On June 25, 2011, a fire destroyed Jack's home and studio on Belmont Blvd. in Nashville. Jack was unhurt, but many priceless recordings and memorabilia were lost.
Jack has two children. A daughter, Alison, also a singer and writer, and a son, Niles, an engineer and photographer. Alison Clement has a website also where you can read about her experiences in the music business as the daughter of a renowned Legendary producer. You can visit her website at alisonclement.com .
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and a record
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Raised and educated in Memphis, Jack Clement was performing at an early age. In 1953, he made his first record for the Sheraton label in Boston, Massachusetts but did not immediately pursue a full time career in music, instead choosing to study at Memphis State University from 1953 to 1955. Nicknamed 'Cowboy' Jack Clement, during his student days he played steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
with a local band, and in 1956 became part of one of the seminal events in rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
history when he went to work as a producer and engineer for Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
at Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
. There, Clement worked with future stars such as Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. But most importantly, he discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
while Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
(one of those recordings, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," was selected in 2005 for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording...
at the Library of Congress). In 1957, Clement wrote the song "Ballad of a Teenage Queen
Ballad of a Teenage Queen
"Ballad of a Teenage Queen" is a country song by Johnny Cash from his 1958 album Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous. The song hit number one on the US Country charts and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" that became a crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
hit for Johnny Cash. Other Cash hits written by Clement included "Guess Things Happen That Way
Guess Things Happen That Way
"Guess Things Happen That Way" is a 1958 cross over single by Johnny Cash, which was written by Jack Clement. The single, a song about "a man struggling .....
", which was # 1 country and # 11 pop in 1958, and the humorous "The One on the Right Is on the Left
The One on the Right Is on the Left
"The One on the Right Is on the Left" is a country song written by Jack Clement. It was recorded by Johnny Cash on November 29, 1965 and included on his album Everybody Loves a Nut . It was the album's third and most successful single , reaching number two on the U.S...
", which was a # 2 country and # 46 pop hit in 1966. Clement performed "Guess Things Happen That Way
Guess Things Happen That Way
"Guess Things Happen That Way" is a 1958 cross over single by Johnny Cash, which was written by Jack Clement. The single, a song about "a man struggling .....
" on the Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute show on CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
in November 2003.
In 1959, Clement accepted an offer to work as a producer at RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, then the most important label in the industry. Clement went on to become a significant figure in the Nashville music business, establishing a publishing business, and his own recording studio, making records for stars such as Charley Pride
Charley Pride
Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...
and Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
. In 1971, he co-founded the J-M-I Record Company.
Jack Clement wrote a number of highly successful songs that have been recorded by singing stars such as Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
,
Charley Pride
Charley Pride
Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Dickey Lee
Dickey Lee
Royden Dickey Lipscomb , known professionally as Dickey Lee , is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie ."-Career:Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa...
and Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
. He 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...
in 1973. He also produced albums by Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
and Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
.
Clement was involved in a few film projects as a singer or songwriter on soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s, and produced the 1975 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Dear Dead Delilah that marked the last film performance by actress Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
.
In 1987 Clement was approached by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
to record at legendary Sun Studio
Sun Studio
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business...
in Memphis, TN. He had never heard of U2 but took the session based on the urging of someone else in his office. The result was a portion of the U2 album Rattle and Hum
Rattle and Hum
Rattle and Hum is the sixth studio album by rock band U2 and companion rockumentary directed by Phil Joanou, both released in 1988. The film and the album feature live recordings, covers, and new songs...
("When Love Came To Town" with BB King, "Angel of Harlem" about Billie Holiday, and "Love Rescue Me" with backing vocals by Bob Dylan), as well as the Woody Guthrie song "Jesus Christ," which appeared on 1988's "Folkways: A Vision Shared—A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly. Portions of the 2 sessions also appear in the film Rattle and Hum.
In 2005, a documentary on Clement entitled Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan was created by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, pieced together from Clement's home videos and interviews with peers, including Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
and Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
.
Clement currently hosts a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Outlaw country
Outlaw country
Outlaw country is a subgenre of country music, most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s , sometimes referred to as the outlaw movement or simply outlaw music...
(channel 60) from 2pm to 6pm (Eastern) on Saturdays.
Jack Clement has been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame was established on the internet on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relative to the artists and personalities involved in this pioneering American music genre....
and the Music City Walk of Fame
Music City Walk of Fame
The Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is a walk of fame that honors significant contributors to Nashville's musical heritage and significant achievements in the music industry....
.
On June 25, 2011, a fire destroyed Jack's home and studio on Belmont Blvd. in Nashville. Jack was unhurt, but many priceless recordings and memorabilia were lost.
Jack has two children. A daughter, Alison, also a singer and writer, and a son, Niles, an engineer and photographer. Alison Clement has a website also where you can read about her experiences in the music business as the daughter of a renowned Legendary producer. You can visit her website at alisonclement.com .
External links
- http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/clement.html
- http://www.cowboyjackclement.com/
- http://www.sirius.com/OutlawCountry
- 3 part video interview with Jack Clement
- Music Row legend's home destroyed in fire.