Conway Twitty: Inside The Legend’s Career & Cause Of Death

Conway Twitty was born on September 1, 1933, in Friars Point, Mississippi was an American singer who began his career in rockabilly and songwriting. He eventually moved to country music, becoming a star known for his deep, emotional voice and memorable ballads.

Twitty was drawn to music from a young age but initially dreamed of becoming a baseball player. After serving in the Korean War, he moved to Memphis to pursue a career as a rockabilly musician. He found success with the 1958 pop hit "It's Only Make Believe" and appeared in teen movies like Platinum High School (1960). However, his true passion was country music, and when his popularity started to decline in the early 1960s, he reinvented himself as a country artist.

Twitty spent 12 years in Oklahoma before relocating his family to Nashville in 1975.

In the early 1970s, Twitty teamed up with Loretta Lynn, and together they produced a series of successful duets, including "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" and "After the Fire Is Gone," which earned them a Grammy Award in 1971. They also won the Country Music Association's Vocal Duo of the Year award for four consecutive years (1972–75).

Backed by the Lonely Blue Boys and later the Twitty Birds, Twitty achieved more than 50 number one hits on the country charts. He became known for his lost-love classics and steamy love songs, with hits like "Tight Fittin' Jeans," "Hello Darlin'," "You've Never Been This Far Before," and "After All the Good Is Gone."

Twitty was a dynamic yet straightforward stage performer known for his ever-changing hairstyles, which ranged from a Brylcreem-slicked Roman centurion style to a semi-Afro.

He was also a sharp businessman, and in 1982 he opened Twitty City, a popular 9-acre tourist complex in Hendersonville, near Nashville, Tennessee. He also had part ownership in a baseball team.

The icon fell suddenly ill after a show in Branson, Missouri, on June 4 and passed away on June 5, 1993. According to the 'Associated Press', he collapsed on his tour bus after the Friday night performance and was rushed to Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, for surgery. He had reportedly been on his way home to Hendersonville, Tennessee.

By a twist of fate, Twitty’s frequent duet partner Loretta Lynn was at the same hospital in Missouri when he arrived, according to The Tennessean. Lynn’s husband, Doo, was recovering from open-heart surgery, and she was able to spend a brief moment with her friend and fellow country legend. She reportedly stayed with Twitty’s wife through the night, awaiting news of the operation.

In an Instagram post just a few months before her own passing in 2022, Loretta Lynn reflected, “I was there on this day in 1993 when we lost him. Doo and I were heartbroken. It didn’t seem real. I still miss him. What I wouldn’t give to sing with him one more time. He was like a brother to me, and a girl couldn’t have asked for a better friend. We made some great music and great memories.”