George Glenn Jones was born Sept. 12, 1931, inSaratoga, Texas. Raised by an alcoholic father and a legendarily patient mother, he sang for tips on the streets of nearby Beaumont as a kid. He became good enough to earn himself spots on local radio in the late 1940s, beginning with KTXJ in Jasper and then moving on to KRIC in Beaumont. It was while singing at the latter station that he met, albeit briefly, one of his idols -- Hank Williams -- who was there to promote a show.
Jones married Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950, his first of four wives. They divorced about year later. After that, Jones joined the Marines and served in Korea. In 1954, he cut his first record, "No Money in This Deal," for Starday Records. That same year, he married Shirley Ann Corley. That union lasted until 1968, the year before he married Tammy Wynette. His marriage to Wynette ended in 1975. He married Nancy Sepulveda, who also became his manager, in 1983.
Still on Starday, Jones had his first chart hit in 1955 with "Why Baby Why," a song he co-wrote. It reached No. 4 in Billboard. In 1956, he scored a No. 3 on Starday with "Just One More." From Starday, Jones moved to Mercury, where he experimented with rockabilly under the name "Thumper Jones." He had his first country No. 1 on Mercury in 1959 with "White Lightning." In 1961, he hit No. 1 again with "Tender Years" and "She Thinks I Still Care." Later in the '60s, on the Musicor ...
