Over 50 years ago, Larry, Steve, and Rudy Gatlin started singing in
their little hometown of Abilene, Texas, and from there went on to
make music history. Over the course of a four-decade career that
has taken the Gatlin Brothers from dusty Texas stages to White House
performances, from Broadway to Grammy Awards to the top of the country
charts, there has been one unifying element, music. There's no harmony
quite as pure as family harmony. "Gatlin harmonies spin with high and
light precision and their music bleeds and screams of love and a lot
of living." Said Country Capsule in New York. Larry,
Steve, and Rudy love to sing together. Raised on Gospel music, the
brothers first began entertaining audiences in churches and then with
guest appearances on the Slim Willet radio and TV shows in Abilene,
Texas when they were 2, 4, and 6 years old. Larry says that
their history as "gospel music junkies" came from those early roots.
"My folks took us to those old fashioned Southern style quartet
concerts, and it was love at first sound! My first hero was
James Blackwood of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet-I just knew somehow
from that moment that I wanted to be a singer for the rest of my
life."
After high school, Larry went to the University of
Houston on a football scholarship. He majored in English and
quickly developed "a love affair with the English language" that later
served him well in his songwriting. On the strength of his song
writing talents and exceptional vocal ability, his life was changed by
the legendary Dottie West who saw gold just under the unpolished
surface of young Gatlin. The early 70's found Steve and Rudy in
college while Larry, aided by West, moved to Nashville to write songs
that would be recorded by names like Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson,
Barbara Streisand, Tom Jones, and yes, Elvis Presley.
In 1972,
Larry landed a solo deal with Monument Records through friend Kris
Kristofferson and invited his siblings up to Nashville to sing backup
on his first two albums—1974's The Pilgrim and 1975's Rain Rainbow.
The release ofThe Pilgrim landed Gatlin his first hit with "Sweet
Becky Walker," and then found himself at #1 on the charts the
next year with "Broken Lady," a song that captured him a Grammy in
76'. The same year all three brothers were inducted into the Grand
Ole Opry. 1977's High Time, credited to "Larry Gatlin with Brothers
and Friends," featured the No.1 hit "I Just Wish You Were Someone I
Love." The success of this album encouraged the brothers to
become an official trio and in 1979, they signed a group deal with
Columbia records. When demand from hit records sent them on the
road, The Gatlin Brothers proved more than capable of fulfilling the
musical call on their lives. In concert, their performances were
simply magical events, filled with incredible family harmonies, total
professionalism, and downright fun for both the trio and their
audiences. Over the next decade the Brothers scored more than a
dozen Top 40 hits, including "Denver," "Houston (Mean That I'm One Day
Closer To You)," Midnight Choir (Mogen David)," and "She Used To Be
Somebody's Baby," "I Don't Want To Cry," "Statues Without Hearts,"
"What Are We Doing Lonesome," I've Done Enough Dyin' Today," "Take Me
To Your Lovin' Place," "Night Time Magic," "Love Is Just A Game," "The
Lady Takes The Cowboy Every Time," and Talkin' To The Moon." It
was also in 79' that Larry Gatlin won the ACM's "Top Male Vocalist,"
Straight Ahead won "Album of the Year," and "All The Gold In
California" won "Single of the Year."
Throughout the 70's and
80's, the Gatlin Brothers lit up major marquees and packed concert
halls across America. Then, in 1992 after much soul searching and
prayer, the brothers made a decision to stop touring. They ended
with "The Adios Tour" along with an accompanying album release of the
same name, and it gave the boys a chance to say goodbye to their fans
and for the fans to say goodbye to the Gatlin Brothers. Explains
Larry, "We just thought our time in the spotlight was probably over.
We had a great run and are thankful for it. We felt it was
someone else's turn in the spot light."
As Larry says, "You
know what Bob Dylan said...things they are a changin'." According to
Larry, a promoter in Dover, Delaware "made us an offer we couldn't
understand...so we took it! Since then a popular ground swell, maybe
not a large popular ground swell, but a ground swell nonetheless, has
arisen that has persuaded us to do some selected dates that we are
calling 'The Gatlin Brothers Never Ending Reunion Tour." Visit www.gatlinbrothers.com for
a list of performances across the country!
At this stage,
the Gatlins' have the best of both worlds, families and fans, plenty
of work both as individuals and together. "A long time ago we
decided to make music for our fans and people who came to our shows,"
says Larry, "and I know that Steve, Rudy, and Larry are going to
stand up and sing in tune every night."
And during the day,
play as much golf as possible.