From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sat Jul 20, 2002 2:20 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Cindy Walker CINDY WALKER (By Henk Gorter) Born 20 July 1925, Mexia, Texas Songwriter. During the 1940s, several female singers and songwriters gained prominence in country music. Without a doubt, the most successful songwriter to emerge from that era was Texas-born Cindy Walker. Over the last half century, Walker has written more than 500 songs that have been recorded by artists in the country, pop and rock 'n roll fields. Cindy Walker was destined for a career in music. Her maternal grandfather, Professor F.L. Eiland, was a popular gospel songwriter whose credits include "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand." Cindy's mother, Oree, played the piano and encouraged her daughter's interest in music, and often served as her accompanist. At the age of seven, Cindy was singing and dancing in the Toy Land Review. By the age of 16, she was playing guitar and writing her own songs. By her early 20s, she had her first cut--by Bing Crosby, no less. Walker's big break as a songwriter occurred in 1940 when she traveled to Los Angeles with her parents. When the Walker family drove by Crosby's office, Cindy insisted that her father stop the car. With songs in tow, she walked into the office and parlayed a meeting with Crosby's brother, Larry. He liked her song, "Lone Star Trail," and arranged for her to record a demo of the number. That demo session not only resulted in Bing Crosby cutting the song, but also in a Decca recording contract for Walker herself. In 1944, she made her lone Billboard chart appearance with "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again." Ironically, it was not one of Cindy's own compositions. Throughout the 1940s and early '50s, Cindy's stock as a songwriter rose. A lengthy association with Western Swing band leader Bob Wills resulted in Wills recording over 50 of Walker's songs including "Cherokee Maiden," "Bubbles in My Beer" and "Dusty Skies." In 1976 Merle Haggard had a # 1 country single with his take on "Cherokee Maiden." Walker wrote "Silver Spurs (On the Golden Stairs)" and "Blue Canadian Rockies" for Gene Autry. The pretty, petite blonde also appeared alongside the singing cowboy in the movie Ride Tenderfoot Ride (1940). In 1941 Walker sang "Seven Beers with the Wrong Man" in a Hollywood Soundie--the precursor to today's music video. Walker left Hollywood in 1954 to return to her native Texas. There, she devoted all of her time and energy to her songwriting and more hits followed, including Ernest Tubb's "Two Glasses, Joe," Webb Pierce's "I Don't Care," Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby," Jim Reeves' "Distant Drums," and Eddy Arnold's "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me" and "You Don't Know Me." Arnold pitched the idea for "You Don't Know Me" to Walker at a DJ convention and in 1956 he took it No. 10 on the Billboard charts. A few years later, Ray Charles recorded the song and took it to the Number Two spot, and in 1981 Mickey Gilley topped the charts with his rendition. Walker, who prefers to stay out of the limelight, shied away from recording for most of her later career. She did, however, record an album of her songs, Words and Music, for the Monument label in 1964. In 1970 Cindy was the first woman inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Throughout her career Walker has inspired countless songwriters, including fellow 1997 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Harlan Howard, who called her "the greatest living songwriter of country music." (Previously posted as message 12646, May 16, 2002)