Dallas Frazier was one of the most recorded and successful country songwriters of the 1960s and '70s before he decided to put his songwriting career aside. He was born in Oklahoma, but when he was a young child his family joined the Dust Bowl migration. He was raised amid the cotton fields and labor camps of the Bakersfield, California region.

Highly musical from boyhood, Frazier began writing songs when he was 10 years old. He was 12 when he won a talent contest hosted by Ferlin Husky in 1952. Husky signed him to be a featured entertainer in his road show. At age 14, Frazier was signed to Capitol Records and began issuing teen-themed singles. From 1954 to 1958, the budding songwriter was featured on Cliffie Stone's Los Angeles television show Hometown Jamboree. He was also a regular on Cousin Herb Henson's country TV show in Bakersfield. Frazier wrote "Alley Oop" while working in a cotton gin. In 1960, the novelty tune became a # 1 pop hit for the Hollywood Argyles.

He relocated to Nashville in the fall of 1963 and went to work writing songs for Ferlin Husky's publishing company. Next, he was a staff songwriter for a publishing company owned by Jim Reeves. Then he joined former Reeves staff member Ray Baker at Blue Crest Music. This is where his country songwriting career caught fire.

Recorded by Jack Greene, Frazier's "There Goes My Everything" was the Country Music Association's Song of the Year for 1967. The songwriter also provided several major hits to George Jones and Connie Smith, both of whom devoted entire albums to his compositions. "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)" is one of the chart-topping songs he wrote for Charley Pride.

Frazier's classics include "If My Heart Had Windows," "Beneath Still Waters," "What's Your Mama's Name," "Elvira," "Mohair Sam," "The Son of Hickory Hollow's Tramp" and "Fourteen Carat Mind." The songwriter recorded four solo albums between 1966 and 1971. He was already entirely deserving of the honor when he was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1976 at age 36.

Ironically, Frazier began to withdraw from the music business that very year. He left the music business entirely in 1988. He became a non-denominational Christian minister and was the pastor of Grace Community Fellowship in White House, Tennessee, from 1999 to 2006. After that, he resumed writing songs and recording.