Glenn Sutton

Induction Year: 1999

Birth Name: Royce Glenn Sutton

Birth Date: 09-28-1937

Place of Birth: Hodge, Louisiana

Death Date: 04-17-2007

Place of Death: Nashville, Tennessee

Glenn Sutton wrote or co-wrote numerous major country hits for Tammy Wynette, David Houston, Lynn Anderson, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. Sutton's song lyrics and melodies were often yearning explorations of sadness and desire, though his outlandish sense of humor made him one of Nashville's most colorful characters. Along Music Row, Sutton was likely to show up at events and parties dressed in a mask and cape, spouting comical profanities. He was also likely to show up for co-writing sessions with million-dollar ideas and the acumen to bring those ideas to fruition.

Sutton was born in Hodge, Louisiana, and raised in Henderson, Texas. He formed a band while serving in the Air Force, and when he left the service he moved to Mississippi, sold insurance and repaired electric razors while performing in area clubs. He moved to Nashville and signed with Al Gallico Music in 1964 and soon teamed with the great producer and songwriter Billy Sherrill.

Together, Sutton and Sherrill would forge the much-vaunted "countrypolitan" sound of the 1960s and '70s by writing and producing songs that set smooth pop elements atop a country heartbeat. In 1966, the pair's "Almost Persuaded" became a #1 country single and won a BMI Country Song of the Year prize, and in 1967 "Almost Persuaded" won a Best Country Song Grammy. "Almost Persuaded" became an instant standard, and within three years of Houston's recording Patti Page, Sheb Wooley and Etta James also made hit versions.

Sutton penned numerous hits for David Houston, and also was a go-to writer for Tammy Wynette, who scored top-charting hits with Sutton songs including "I Don't Wanna Play House," "Take Me to Your World," "The Ways to Love a Man" "Bedtime Stories" and "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Sutton also supplied numerous songs to Lynn Anderson, to whom he was married from 1968 until 1977. Sutton didn't write Anderson's signature hit, "Rose Garden," but his countrypolitan production touches on the record helped it rise to crossover success.

By the late 1970s, Sutton's run of hits came to an end, but he remained a humorous presence on Music Row, appearing at parties as "Bluewater Dave, the world's oldest living entertainer" or as superhero Angelman.

"He was one of the funniest human beings in the world," friend and producer Jerry Kennedy told The Tennessean in 2007, after learning of Sutton's death. "If you didn't know him, you really missed something."

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Song Catalog

"Almost Persuaded"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Grammy for Best Country Song, BMI Country Song of the Year

David Houston1966 #1 country
Patti Page1966 #20 adult contemporary
Sheb Wooley (Ben Colder)1966 #6 country
Etta James1969 #24 pop
Merle Haggard1987 #58 country
 

"Already It's Heaven"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

David Houston1968 #1 country
 

"Bedtime Story"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Tammy Wynette1972  #1 country
 

"Have a Little Faith"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

David Houston1968 #1 country

"I Don't Wanna Play House"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Tammy Wynette1967 #1 country
 

"Kids Say the Darndest Things"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Tammy Wynette1973 #1 country, #72 pop
 

"Livin' in a House Full of Love"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

David Houston1965 #3 country
 

"She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)"

Jerry Lee Lewis1968 #2 country
 

"Sing About Love"

Lynn Anderson1973 #3 country
 

"Stay There 'Til I Get There"

Lynn Anderson1970 #7 country

"Take Me to Your World"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Tammy Wynette1968 #1 country
 

"The Ways to Love a Man"

(written with Billy Sherrill, Tammy Wynette)

Tammy Wynette1969 #1 country
 

"To Make Love Sweeter for You"

(written with Jerry Kennedy)

Jerry Lee Lewis1968 #1 country

"We Can Make It"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

George Jones1972 #6 country
 

"What a Man, My Man Is"

Lynn Anderson1974 #1 country,#93 pop

"What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)"

Jerry Lee Lewis1968 #2 country, #94 pop
Lynn Anderson1971  
Rod Stewart1972  
 

"With One Exception"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

David Houston1967 #1 country
 

"You Mean the World to Me"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

David Houston1967 #1 country
 

"You're My Man"

Lynn Anderson1971 #2 country, #62 pop
 

"Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad"

(written with Billy Sherrill)

Tammy Wynette1967 #3 country

Other Media

Glenn Sutton

Induction Year: 1999