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Conway Twitty was born Harold Lloyd Jenkins on September 1, 1933 in Friar's Point, Mississippi, and raised mostly in Helena, where he attended high school. His grandfather taught him guitar, and he was performing on KFFA by the time he was twelve. Soon enough he was a regular, appearing on Sunday mornings with two high school pals as the Phillips County Ramblers. Jenkins also played baseball well enough to be scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, and when he got out in 1956, he recorded eight unreleased songs for Sun before signing with Mercury as a rockabilly act.
At this point, Jenkins made a new name for himself by yoking an Arkansas town (Conway) to a Texas one (Twitty). In 1958, he struck pay dirt; having signed with MGM, he recorded "It's Only Make Believe" and rode it to the #1 spot. Other chart toppers followed in quick succession ("Danny Boy" in 1959, "What Am I Living For" in 1960), and soon Twitty was appearing in teen movies as well. Twitty, along with Elvis Presley, was the inspiration for the title character in the musical Bye Bye Birdy.
Sensing the end of the rockabilly ride, Twitty remodeled himself as a country artist in 1965, and by 1968 he'd made it to #1 again with "Next in Line." Working alone and in tandem with Loretta Lynn, he produced a long string of hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also an active businessman; Twitty Enterprises produced Twitty burgers, Conway Twitty Mobile Homes, and owned the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team, among other ventures. Twitty died in 1993.
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