Marty Robbins

Arizona-born singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Marty Robbins recorded more than 500 songs and 60 albums during his storied four-decade career. ∙ Robbins’ chart-topping take on “Singing the Blues” in 1956 was the first of his 17 No. 1 Country hits. ∙ His signature song, the 1959 Tex-Mex ballad “El Paso,” hit No. 1 on both the Pop and Country charts, won a Grammy Award, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. ∙ Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, his biggest LP, was the basis of the 1964 film The Ballad of a Gunfighter, in which he also starred. ∙ In 1969, he was named the 1960s Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music. ∙ He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. ∙ Clint Eastwood titled his 1982 film after Robbins’ hit “Honkytonk Man” and cast him in what would be his final role.