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Freddie Hart (born Frederick Segrest, December 21, 1926, Loachapoka, Alabama) is an American country musician and songwriter. He is best known for his hit song "Easy Loving," which won the Country Music Association Song of the Year award two years in a row, in 1971 and 1972.^[1]

Childhood and military service

Hart was born to a sharecropper family in Loachapoka, Alabama in 1926^[2] and spent his childhood in nearby Phenix City, Alabama along with his 14 siblings. He learned to play guitar at age 5 and quit school by age 12. At age 15, Hart lied about his age in order to join the Marine Corps. He served with the Marines during World War II seeing combat action at Guam and Iwo Jima. Following the war, Hart ended up in California where he taught classes in self defense at the Los Angeles Police Academy.^[2]

Early career

Hart got an early break in his career when singer Carl Smith covered Hart's song "Loose Talk" in 1955. Other artists who recorded his songs included Patsy Cline ("Lovin' In Vain"), George Jones ("My Tears are Overdue") and Porter Wagoner ("Skid Row Joe").

During the early 1950s, Hart and his family moved to California to further the growing country music scene there. In 1953, Hart signed with Capitol Records and released several singles which included his own version of "Loose Talk" but none of these were successful. In 1958, Hart signed with Columbia Records and scored his first chart hit with "The Wall" in 1959 which made the Top 20. His biggest hit for the label was the 1960 Top 20 hit "The Key's In The Mailbox".

In 1965, Hart signed with Kapp Records where he would score several Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1968. The biggest of these hits included "Hank Williams' Guitar" (1965), "Born A Fool" (1968) and "Togetherness" (1968).

Re-signing with Capitol Records and Easy Loving

In 1969, Hart resigned with Capitol Records and soon became a part of the Bakersfield Sound by signing up with Buck Owens' songwriting and management company and in early 1970, he scored a Top 30 hit with "The Whole World's Holdin' Hands". Hart's song "Togetherness", a hit for him in 1968 became a Top 15 hit for Buck Owens and Susan Raye that summer. Hart would score several minor hits during the year but the best was yet to come.

In 1971, Hart released a song that he wrote called "Easy Loving" which was first recorded in the summer of 1969 for his album "California Grapevine", released in 1970. Released in the summer of 1971, "Easy Loving" rapidly began climbing the charts and by that September, it was number 1 for 3 weeks on the country charts and reached number #17 on the pop charts. It was also played on adult contemporary stations, earning a position on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. The song would ultimately win Hart a bunch of awards from both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association. The song became a million seller that fall and the album of the same name went Gold. The song even won a Grammy for Hart as well.

From this success, Hart and his backup band, the Heartbeats, had a string of Top 5 hits with "My Hang Up Is You" (6 weeks at #1 in 1972), "Bless Your Heart" (#1 in 1972), "Got The All Overs For You All Over Me" (#1 in 1972), "If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)" (1973), "Super Kind of Woman" (#1 in 1973), "Trip to Heaven" (#1 in 1973), "Hang In There Girl" (1974), "The Want-To's" (1974), "My Woman's Man" (1975), "The First Time" (1975), "I'd Like To Sleep Till I Get Over You" (1975) and "The Warm Side of You" (1975). He has been called by many fans as "The Heart and Soul of Country Music".

With the success of "Easy Loving" and other songs, he wrote plus a popular concert attraction on the road, Hart became independently wealthy with his own businesses such as a songwriting company, a school for the blind, a trucking company, and a chain of martial arts studios in which Freddie's hobby was as a master of karate.

Later career

By 1976, Hart continued to have major hits although now his streak of Top 10s were replaced by a streak of Top 20 and Top 30 hits. These included "You Are The Song Inside Of Me" (1976), "That Look In Her Eyes" (1976), "Thank God She's Mine" (1977), "The Pleasure's Been All Mine" (1977), "Toe to Toe" (1978), and "Wasn't It Easy Baby" (1979). His last Top 10 hit came with the hit "Why Lovers Turn to Strangers" in 1977, which peaked at #8. This song was written by east Idaho based composer Bobby Fender.

In 1980, Hart signed with Sunbird Records, and immediately scored a Top 20 hit with "Sure Thing" that year. He followed this up with 3 Top 40 hits in 1981. This ended his days as a major country artist. In 1985 and 1987, he had a couple of minor hits on El Dorado and 5th Avenue Records, with his last hit being "The Best Love I Ever Had" in 1987 peaking at #77.

Since then, Hart increasingly went over to Gospel music, where he has recorded several albums and occasionally tours. He sells a variety of new and original recordings on his official website, which he owns and maintains.

Hart was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

External links

• Official website

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards & Nominations

References

External links

• Alabama Hall Of Fame
• Freddie Hart's Official Website