Born in Iron City, Tennessee on October 14, 1938, Melba Montgomery was a country singer best known for her number 1 hit “No Charge” (1974). Born into a musical family, she began her recording career in 1962 with the release of the single “Shoe Old Ranger.” She didn’t come into prominence until 1963 when United Artists paired her with fellow country artist George Jones for albums such as What’s in Our Heart (1963), Bluegrass Hootenanny (1964), Close Together (As You and Me) (1966), and Party Pickin’ (1967). The duo achieved commercial success with singles like “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds” (1963). Her debut solo album, America’s Number One Country and Western Girl Singer, was issued in 1964, followed closely by Down Home (1964), and I Can’t Get Used to Being Lonely (1965). While she remained a prolific artist and released a series of albums and singles throughout the remainder of the 1960s and into the 1970s, she didn’t achieve success as a solo artist until the release of her “No Charge” single in 1974. The song climbed to number 1 on both the US and Canadian country music singles charts. Her next hit, “Don’t Let the Good Times Fool You,” reached the Top 20 in Canada and the US. By the 1980s, her career momentum had slowed down and she focused her attention on songwriting. Beginning in the early 1990s, she began to record for independent labels and continued to perform live up through 2015. Melba Montgomery died on January 15, 2025, at the age of 86.
