System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Chester (Chet) Burton Atkins
June 20, 1924 - June 30, 2001
Chet Atkins the legendary guitarist born in Luttrell, TN, winner of 14 Grammy Awards, nine CMA Awards as Musician of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award has died in his home Saturday in his 77th year. Mr. Atkins had battled cancer for several years. He underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in June 1997, and had a bout with colon cancer in the 1970s.
Mr. Atkins, whose guitar style influenced a generation of rock musicians even as he helped develop an easygoing country style to compete with it was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame at age 49, making him the youngest inductee ever. He had played on such legendary country and rock songs as "Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams Sr.), "Bye Bye Love", "Wake Up Little Susie" "All I Have To Do Is Dream (Everly Brothers) and "Heartbreak Hotel" (Elvis Presley).
Known as "Mr. Guitar," he is one of the most recorded solo instrumentalist in music history and sold over 35 million albums to date. As a studio musician, his string-tickling work has gilded the records of Elvis Presley, Kitty Wells, The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams and dozens of other Nashville legends. His style influenced such pop greats as Mark Knopfler, Duane Eddy, George Harrison, The Ventures, George Benson and Eddie Cochran, as well as thousands of country pickers. He has won, four Playboy jazz poll honors and thirteen Grammies, more than any other artist in the history of country music.
Without Chet Atkins, country music may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s. Although he has recorded hundreds of solo records, Chet Atkins' largest influence came as a session musician and a record producer. During the '50s and '60s, he helped create the Nashville sound, a style of country music that owed nearly as much to pop as it did to honky tonks. And as a guitarist, he is without parallel. Atkins' style grew out of his admiration for Merle Travis, expanding Travis' signature syncopated thumb and fingers roll into new territory. He will be sadly missed by many fans and musicians worldwide. For more stories and information on Mr. Atkins please visit canoe.ca
