Jerry Reed

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Jerry Reed Hubbard (born March 20, 1937) is an American country music singer, country guitarist, songwriter, and actor. He has also appeared in over a dozen films. As a singer, he may be best remembered for his novelty song "When you're Hot, You're Hot" for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972.

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Biography

Reed was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Robert and Cynthia Hubbard. Reed's parents separated four months after his birth and he and his sister spent seven years in foster homes or orphanages. Reed was reunited with his mother and stepfather in 1944. Music and impromptu performances helped ease the stressful times the new family was under.

By high school, Reed was already writing and singing music; after picking up the guitar as a child, he was signed by publisher and producer Bill Lowery to cut his first record, "If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creeks Don't Rise," at the age of 18. He continued releasing both country and rockabilly singles to little notice until rocker Gene Vincent covered his "Crazy Legs" in 1958.

After a two-year tenure in the military, Reed moved to Nashville in 1961 to continue his songwriting career, which had continued to gather steam even as he was in the armed forces thanks to Brenda Lee's 1960 cover of his "That's All You Got to Do." He also became a popular session and tour guitarist. In 1962, he scored some success with the singles "Goodnight Irene" and "Hully Gully Guitar," which found their way to Chet Atkins, who produced Reed's 1965 "If I Don't Live Up to It." In 1967, he notched his first chart hit with "Guitar Man," which Elvis Presley soon covered. After Presley recorded another of Reed's songs, "U.S. Male," the songwriter recorded an Elvis tribute, "Tupelo Mississippi Flash," which proved to be his first Top Twenty hit.

After releasing the 1970 crossover hit "Amos Moses," a hybrid of rock, country and cajun styles, Reed teamed with Atkins for the duet LP Me and Jerry. During the 1970 television season, he was a regular on the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and in 1971 issued his biggest hit, the chart-topper "When You're Hot, You're Hot," which was also the title track of his first solo album. A second collaboration with Atkins, Me and Chet, followed in 1972, as did a series of Top Forty singles, which alternated between frenetic, straightforward country offerings and more pop-flavored, countrypolitan material. A year later, he scored his second Number One, "Lord, Mr. Ford," from the album The Uptown Poker Club. Atkins, who frequently produced Reed, remarked that he had to encourage Reed to put instrumental numbers on his own albums, as Reed always considered himself more of a songwriter than a player. But Atkins himself thought Reed was a better fingerstyle player than he himself was (Reed, according to Atkins, helped him work out the fingerpicking for one of Atkins biggest hits, "Yakety Axe".)

In the mid-1970s, Reed's recording career began to take a backseat to his acting aspirations, and in 1974, he co-starred with his close friend Burt Reynolds in the film W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings. While he continued to record throughout the decade, his greatest visibility was as a motion picture star, almost always in tandem with headliner Reynolds; after 1976's Gator, Reed appeared in 1978's High Ballin' and 1979's Hot Stuff. He also co-starred in all three of the Smokey and the Bandit films; the first, which premiered in 1977, landed Reed a number two hit with the soundtrack's "East Bound and Down."

In 1979, he released a record comprised of both vocal and instrumental selections titled, appropriately enough, Half & Half. It was followed two years later by Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce, a tribute to the late singer/songwriter. In 1982, Reed's career as a singles artist was revitalized by the chart-topping novelty hit "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)," followed by "The Bird," which peaked at number two. His last chart hit, "I'm a Slave," appeared in 1983. After an unsuccessful 1986 LP, Lookin' at You, Reed focused on touring until 1992, when he and Atkins reunited for the album Sneakin' Around before he again returned to the road.

Jerry married Priscilla (Prissy) Mitchell in 1959. They have two daughters - Lottie and Seidina.

Jerry also starred in the 1998 Adam Sandler film, The Waterboy, as the head coach for the opposing team in the "Bourbon Bowl."

His latest recording was released in 2005, named "Jerry Reed *LIVE!*".

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