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King Malachi "Mel" Street (October 21, 1935 – October 21, 1978)[1] was an American country music singer who had 13 top-20 hits on the Billboard country charts.
Mel Street | |
|---|---|
 Street in 1975 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | King Malachi Street |
| Born | October 21, 1935 Grundy, Virginia, United States |
| Died | October 21, 1978 (aged 43) Hendersonville, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1972–1978 |
| Labels | Metromedia, GRT, Polydor, Mercury |
Biography
Street was born near Grundy, Virginia, United States.[2][3] Publications cite his year of birth as 1933, although his family maintains that he was born in 1935 and his gravestone gives the year as 1936.[4][5] He began performing on western Virginia and West Virginia radio shows at the age of sixteen.[6] Street subsequently worked as a radio tower electrician in Ohio,[6] and as a nightclub performer in the Niagara Falls, New York area.[1] He moved back to West Virginia in 1963 to open an auto body shop.[7]
From 1968 to 1972, Street hosted a show on a Bluefield, West Virginia television station.[8] He recorded his first single, "Borrowed Angel" – which he also wrote – in 1969 for a small regional record label, Tandem Records.[6] A larger label, Royal American Records, picked it up in 1972 and it became a top-10 Billboard hit.[6] He recorded the biggest hit of his career, "Lovin' on Back Streets", in 1972.[6]
Street's last television appearance was in 1977, in which he performed his 1976 hit "I Met A Friend Of Yours Today" on That Good Ole Nashville Music.
Street recorded several hits in the mid-1970s, such as "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man," "Forbidden Angel," "I Met a Friend of Yours Today," "If I Had a Cheatin' Heart," and "Smokey Mountain Memories". He signed with Mercury Records in 1978, but suffering from clinical depression and alcoholism,[6] he killed himself by a self-inflicted gunshot on October 21, 1978, his 43rd birthday.[3] He had a record debut on the country charts on October 21 as well, called "Just Hangin' On",[9] and later charted four posthumous songs. Street's idol, George Jones, sang "Amazing Grace" at his funeral.[6]
His posthumous album, Mel Street's Greatest Hits, was promoted via television advertisements in 1981, and sold 400,000 copies.[6]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Borrowed Angel | 14 | Metromedia Country |
| 1973 | The Town Where You Live / Walk Softly On the Bridges |
37 | |
| 1974 | Two Way Street | 37 | GRT |
| 1975 | Smokey Mountain Memories | 16 | |
| 1976 | Mel Street's Greatest Hits | 26 | |
| Country Colors | — | ||
| 1977 | Mel Street | 45 | Polydor |
| 1978 | Country Soul | 47 | |
| Mel Street | — | Mercury | |
| 1980 | Many Moods of Mel | 61 | Sunbird |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | CAN Country | |||
| 1972 | "Borrowed Angel" | 7 | 9 | Borrowed Angel |
| "Lovin' On Back Streets" | 5 | 8 | ||
| 1973 | "Walk Softly On the Bridges" | 11 | 6 | The Town Where You Live / Walk Softly On the Bridges |
| "The Town Where You Live" | 38 | 58 | ||
| "Lovin' On Borrowed Time" | 11 | 7 | Two Way Street | |
| 1974 | "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man" | 15 | — | |
| "Forbidden Angel" | 16 | 47 | Smokey Mountain Memories | |
| 1975 | "Smokey Mountain Memories" | 13 | 43 | |
| "Even If I Have to Steal" | 17 | 17 | ||
| "(This Ain't Just Another) Lust Affair" | 23 | — | ||
| 1976 | "The Devil in Your Kisses (And the Angel in Your Eyes)" | 32 | — | Mel Street's Greatest Hits |
| "I Met a Friend of Yours Today" | 10 | — | Country Colors | |
| "Looking Out My Window Through the Pain" | 24 | — | ||
| 1977 | "Rodeo Bum" | 56 | — | |
| "Barbara Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" | 19 | — | Mel Street (1977) | |
| "Close Enough for Lonesome" | 15 | — | ||
| 1978 | "If I Had a Cheating Heart" | 9 | — | Country Soul |
| "Shady Rest" | 24 | — | ||
| "Just Hangin' On" | 68 | — | Mel Street (1978) | |
| 1979 | "The One Thing My Lady Never Puts Into Words" | 17 | — | Many Moods of Mel |
| 1980 | "Tonight Let's Sleep On It Baby" | 30 | — | |
| "Who'll Turn Out the Lights" | 36 | — | ||
| 1981 | "Slip Away" (w/ Sandy Powell) | 48 | — | |
Footnotes
- "Mel Street | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- "October 21, 1935: Country Musician Mel Street Born in Virginia". West Virginia Public Broadcasting. October 21, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- Nelson, Dick (August 27, 2017). "Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to Feature Mel Street". 98.1 Minnesota's New Country. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 23.
- "Mel Street – Grave of a Famous Person". Waymarking.com. The Social Security Death Index also shows 1936.
- Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 398. ISBN 0-85112-726-6.
- Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 46.
- Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 51.
- Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 243.
References
- Huey, Steve. (2003). Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, & Stephen Erlewine. "Mel Street (King Malachi Street)." All Music Guide to Country, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003. ISBN 0-87930-760-9
- Schuler, Dennis Sr. and Larry J. Delp. Mel Street – A Country Legend, Charleston, WV: Mountain State Press, 2002. ISBN 0-941092-47-X
External links
- Mel Street @ Last.fm
- Mel Street at Find a Grave
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