Country Musician, Songwriter. Born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Erick, Oklahoma. As a young man, he joined the United States Army and served in the Korean War. Upon leaving the Army, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1957 to be a songwriter and signed an exclusive songwriting contract with Tree Publishing Company. In 1959, he wrote his first number-one song, "Billy Bayou" recorded by singer Jim Reeves. He had a string of popular music hits in the 1960s and in 1966, he was given his own television show. While many of his recordings were humorous novelty songs with whimsical lyrics, he also wrote sincere ballads, and his signature song became "King of the Road." Married to musician and singer Mary Arnold, who was a member of country-rock band "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition", he had 32 hit singles between 1960 and 1985. In addition to 11 Grammy Awards, he won Broadway theatre's Tony award for writing the score for the musical "Big River". He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) in 1995. He received a Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) "three million performance" award for "King of the Road" and a few BMI 1 million performance awards for "Don't We All Have the Right" and "It Only Hurts When I Cry." In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a thoroughfare was renamed "Roger Miller Boulevard." The chorus of his song, "England Swings", was used for the 1998 BBC radio program, "15 Minutes of Misery". In early 2006, Roger Miller's 1967 single "Walkin' In The Sunshine" was featured in a Mastercard commercial. His song, "King of the Road" was named as one of the one hundred most important songs of the 20th Century by National Public Radio (NPR). He died of lung cancer at the age of 56.
Country Musician, Songwriter. Born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Erick, Oklahoma. As a young man, he joined the United States Army and served in the Korean War. Upon leaving the Army, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1957 to be a songwriter and signed an exclusive songwriting contract with Tree Publishing Company. In 1959, he wrote his first number-one song, "Billy Bayou" recorded by singer Jim Reeves. He had a string of popular music hits in the 1960s and in 1966, he was given his own television show. While many of his recordings were humorous novelty songs with whimsical lyrics, he also wrote sincere ballads, and his signature song became "King of the Road." Married to musician and singer Mary Arnold, who was a member of country-rock band "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition", he had 32 hit singles between 1960 and 1985. In addition to 11 Grammy Awards, he won Broadway theatre's Tony award for writing the score for the musical "Big River". He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame (CMHOF) in 1995. He received a Broadcast Music, Incorporated (BMI) "three million performance" award for "King of the Road" and a few BMI 1 million performance awards for "Don't We All Have the Right" and "It Only Hurts When I Cry." In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a thoroughfare was renamed "Roger Miller Boulevard." The chorus of his song, "England Swings", was used for the 1998 BBC radio program, "15 Minutes of Misery". In early 2006, Roger Miller's 1967 single "Walkin' In The Sunshine" was featured in a Mastercard commercial. His song, "King of the Road" was named as one of the one hundred most important songs of the 20th Century by National Public Radio (NPR). He died of lung cancer at the age of 56.
Bio by: Jane Stacy Eubanks
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