Wayne Head

Born in Denver, Colorado on May 31, 1943

Departed on July 20, 2015 and resided in Franklin, Tennessee

Wayne Carson Head- Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Wayne Carson passed away early this morning, July 20, following a long illness.
Noted for such compositions as "The Letter", Always on My Mind" and "No Love at All". Carson was also a recording artist and a song publisher. He died in hospice care at age 72.
Born Wayne Carson in Denver, CO, he was the son of country performers, Odie and Olivia Head. Their stage names were Shorty Thompson and Sue. After stints on the radio in Nebraska and Colorado, they moved to Springfield, MO to join the staff at KWTO. Shortly became a member of The Tall Timber Boys on The Ozark Jubilee radio and TV program in Springfield. Inspired by Merle Travis, Wayne began playing guitar at age 14. As youngster, he performed on the offshoot show Junior Jubilee alongside Brenda Lee.
He initially moved to Nashville in 1962, but returned to Sprinfield to write songs for Jubilee producer Si Siman's Publishing Company. Wayne Carson's first success as a songwriter was the No. 1 Eddy Arnold hit of 1966, "Somebody Like Me".
He became an even bigger success with the 1967's "The Letter", an Wayne Carson international No. 1 hit for The Box Tops. The song was revived in 1970 by Joe Cocker, has been recorded by more than 20 others and can currently be heard on the soundtrack of the Minions movie.
His co-written "Always on My Mind" began its journey to becoming a standard when Brenda Lee introduced it in 1972. Elvis Presley recorded it the following year. Then Willie Nelson's version of the song became a smash hit in 1982, when it won Song of the Year honors from the Grammy Awards, the CMA, the NSAI and other organizations. It has been recorded by dozens of others, including Johnny Cash, B/B/ King, Ann Murray and Scotty McCreery. The Pet Shop Boys had a No. 1 hit in the U.K. with it in 1988.
Wayne Carson co-wrote a string of honky-tonk country classics in the 1970's. They include Conway Twitty's "I See the Want-To in Your Eyes" (1974), Johnny Paycheck's "Slide Off Your Satin Sheets" (1977) and Moe Bandy's "Barstool Mountain" (1979). Gary Stewart's "Drinkin' Thing" (1974) , "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles" (1975) and "Whiskey Trip" (1978) were all Carson songs.
By this time, Wayne Carson was an established recording artist, himself. He made the country charts three times during the 1970's. During his career, he released records on the Decca, Monument, Elektra, Private Stock, EMH and MGM labels. He has also recorded for his own record company. His Life Lines LP was issued by Monument in 1972.
Wayne Carson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997. He went into semi-retirement, but occasionally continued to write songs. Dan Auerbach of the rock group The Black Keys recoreded his "I Want Some More" on his 2009 solo album.
The Country Music Hall of Fame saluted Wayne Carson by featuring him in its Poets and Prophets songwriter series in 2011.
More than 75 million records have been sold by artists singing his songs.
Wayne Carson is survived by his wife, Wyndi Harp and son, Christian Head.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Southern Cross Boston Terrier Rescue http://www.southerncrossbtr.com/.
A Celebration of Life Service will be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at The Pavilion at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home, 9090 hwy 100, Nashville (615) 646-9292