DALLAS — Hank Thompson, the country singer and bandleader who mixed honky-tonk and Western swing on such hits as “A Six Pack to Go” and “The Wild Side of Life,” has died. He was 82.
Thompson died Tuesday of lung cancer at his home in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller, said spokesman Tracy Pitcox, who is also president of Heart of Texas Records. He died just days after canceling his tour and announcing his retirement.
His last show was Oct. 8 in his native Waco, Texas. That day was declared “Hank Thompson Day” by Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy.
Fans loved Thompson’s distinctive voice and musical style, which drew on the Western swing first developed in the 1930s by fellow Texan Bob Wills. Thompson was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
His first hit record was “Whoa, Sailor” in 1946. That year, he started a band called the Brazos Valley Boys, which won Billboard magazine’s touring-band-of-the- year award 14 consecutive times.
Thompson had 29 hits reach the top 10 between 1948 and 1975. “The Wild Side of Life,” which reached No. 1 in 1952, inspired a famous “answer song” written by J.D. Miller, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” The two hits were on the charts at the same time.
Henry William Thompson was born Sept. 3, 1925, and after seeing cowboy star Gene Autry when he was a child, Thompson quickly gravitated to music, starting as a harmonica prodigy and taking up guitar at age 10.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
