Don King

Singer/songwriter/guitarist/trumpeter Don King first learned to play trumpet in high school, and took up classical guitar at age 14 after learning to play the electric guitar. Born and raised in Nebraska, he got his professional start playing in Omaha clubs. His success there inspired King to try his luck in Nashville in 1974; his first job was playing at the Quality Inn Hotel club for two years, where he met important people in the music business. He used his connections to get a contract with Con Brio Records and in 1976 made his chart debut with "Cabin High (In the Blue Ridge Mountains)." The following year, he had his first Top 20 hit with "I've Got You to Come Home To," which was followed by two other medium-level hits and his first album, Dreams and Things. In 1978, he released his second album, Feelings So Right, and had four Top 30 hits, including "Music Is My Woman." In 1979, the single "Lonely Hotel" made it to the Top 40. He had two more hits the following year and began touring with Alabama, Reba McEntire, John Anderson, the Oak Ridge Boys, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette, among others. He scored a Top 40 hit with his cover of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" in 1981 and had another with "The Closer You Get" while completing his album, Whirlwind. At the end of the year, he launched the Don King Music Group with his father. They built a 24-track studio in 1985 to record demos and added a video production company in 1992. ~ Sandra Brennan