Mel McDaniel

Melvin Huston McDaniel (September 6, 1942 – March 31, 2011) was an American country music artist. Many of his top hits were released in the 1980s, including "Louisiana Saturday Night", "Big Ole Brew", "Stand Up", "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On" (which reached number one on the country chart), "I Call It Love", "Stand on It", and a remake of Chuck Berry's "Let It Roll (Let It Rock)".

McDaniel's type of country music has been referred to as "the quintessential happy song" in comparison to other country artists who discuss broken hearts and lost loves. When asked why most of his songs were positive in their outlook, McDaniel told the Anchorage Daily News that "there's enough things in the world to keep you bummed out" and that his fans did not want to "hear me singing something that's gonna bum 'em out some more."

McDaniel was born in Checotah, a small town in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, and grew up in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He was inspired to play music after seeing Elvis Presley on television. His first interest in music was when he learned the trumpet in the fourth grade, but he soon learned the guitar. At age 14, he taught himself the guitar chords to "Frankie and Johnny" and performed at a high-school talent contest. He made his professional debut at age 15 performing in a talent contest at Okmulgee High School. While in high school, he played in several local bands, and after graduation, began working as a musician in Tulsa clubs. While in Tulsa, he recorded several singles for local label J.J. Cale, and wrote and produced his first single, "Lazy Me".

After marrying his high-school sweetheart, McDaniel began performing in Tulsa. From there, he had an unsuccessful trip to Nashville, followed by quite a bit of success in Anchorage, Alaska, performing at clubs among the oil fields. After two years there, he returned to Nashville and landed a job as a demonstration singer and songwriter with Combine Music. With the help of music publisher Bob Beckham, McDaniel signed to Capitol Records in 1976 and released his first single, "Have a Dream on Me".

His career finally took off with "Louisiana Saturday Night" in 1981, and in early 1985, he scored his only number-one hit with "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On". His other top-10 hits include "Right in the Palm of Your Hand" (later covered by Alan Jackson in 1999), "Take Me to the Country", "Big Ole Brew", "I Call It Love", and "Real Good Feel Good Song".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.