BURT REYNOLDS - COUNTRY STAR DEL REEVES DEAD AT 73

Country music icon DEL REEVES died on New Year's Day (01JAN07) at his home in Tennessee. He was 73. The Grand Ole Opry star, famous for his impressions of his country music peers, was a hit on the US country charts throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when he enjoyed hits like GIRL ON THE BILLBOARD, BE GLAD and WOMEN DO FUNNY THINGS TO ME. Reeves, real name FRANKLIN DELANO REEVES, was born in North Carolina in July 1933. He was a child guitar prodigy who had his own local radio show by the time he was 12. After serving in the US Air Force in California, the singer signed up to write and record for Capitol Records. His early efforts at hitting the charts fell short but his tune SING A LITTLE SONG OF HEARTACHE was a number three hit for ROSE MADDOX in the early 1960s. Reeves later signed to Decca and scored his first chart hit with BE QUIET MIND. He toured around different record companies before signing with United Artists in 1965, where he stayed for 13 years. As well as becoming a beloved country performer, Reeves also enjoyed a little movie success, appearing in eight films, including SAM WHISKEY, which starred BURT REYNOLDS and ANGIE DICKINSON. And he also tasted TV success as the host of THE DEL REEVES COUNTRY CARNIVAL in the 1970s. Reeves also worked behind the scenes in Nashville, Tennessee to mentor country stars like LEE GREENWOOD and ACHY BREAKY HEART singer BILLY RAY CYRUS.