From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jan 1, 2002  3:09 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Ernie Chaffin
 
ERNIE CHAFFIN (Co-written by Dave Penny)

Born 1 January 1928, Water Valley, Mississippi
Died 16 April 1997, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Vocalist/guitarist/composer. Best remembered for his Sun recordings,
country singer Chaffin had four singles released on the famous Memphis
label (1957-1959), but they all failed to make any real commercial impact.
Sam Phillips and Jack Clement tried to persuade him to do rockabilly, but
"I never did like rockabilly". Nevertheless he cut records approaching the
style, prior to joining Sun, for Hickory (1955) and Fine (1956).
A deeply religious man, Chaffin always had the feeling that the Lord came
first, his family second, and his career third. As Escott and Hawkins write
in their book "Good Rockin' Tonight": "From a commercial point of view,
Chaffin had a dangerously skewed perspective, but his priorities have
brought him peace of mind - something to which few of his contemporaries
at Sun can lay claim."
According to the obituary in "Now Dig This" 171, he passed away following
a tractor accident on his farm in Hattiesburg.
Regarding the availability of his recordings see Terry Gordon's
"Rockin' Country Syle" site:
http://els51.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/c/chaf5000.htm