A country performer, songwriter, and occasional actor, Ed Bruce was born William Edwin Bruce Jr. on December 29, 1939 in Keiser, Arkansas. As a teenager he was discovered by the legendary head of Sun Records, Sam Phillips and had his first professional work at Sun as a rockabilly artist on singles like “Rockin’ Boppin’ Baby” (1957). He continued to record, and he found success as a songwriter when his “See the Big Man Cry” became a top 10 hit in 1965 for Charlie Louvin. His 1968 debut album, If I Could Just Go Home gave him his biggest chart success to that point with the number 57 country single “Walker’s Woods”. He would establish himself with his self-titled 1976 album that contained “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”, a number 15 country hit for him that would become an outlaw country standard when covered three years later by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. He went on to score a string of seventeen top 40 country hits throughout the 1980s including 1981’s “You’re the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had” (his only number 1 as a performer), 1982’s “Ever, Never Lovin’ You”, 1983’s “After All”, 1984’s “You Turn Me On (Like a Radio)”, and 1986’s “Nights”. He switched his focus to acting and became a TV host as well as the co-star in the short-lived western series Bret Maverick. Bruce passed away on January 8, 2021.
