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Billy Parker: Doesn't just play
country music, he lives it.
Billy Parker is a native Oklahoman who
grew up in
country music,playing guitar and singing since age 11,
and singing
professionally since age 14. With many
nationally charted records to his
credit, he has played
and sung with the best of them: Bob Wills,
Red Foley
and Ernest Tubb. He has appeared on the Grand Ole
Opry, Hee Haw,
and on the Nashville Network's
Nashville Now.
Parker began his radio career in Tulsa
in 1959 at
KFMJ and
did radio and TV in that city — with stops
at
Wichita's KFDI
and Oklahoma City's KLPR. Billy
left Tulsa to become the
front
man for the Texas
Troubadour, he toured continually and
worked
with many of the greatest names in country music,
including Bob Wills.
Tiring of the road, but continuing his
country-music
recording career,
Parker joined clear-channel giant
KVOO in 1971. There, he
began his
ascension to
country-radio superstardom. It didn't take
long for the
industry to notice, either. In 1974, only three years
after he'd
begun his radio show KVOO, the Country
Music Association awarded him a Disc
Jockey of the
Year honor. The next year, the Los Angeles-based
Academy
of Country
Music followed suit, recognizing
Parker as its Disc
Jockey of the Year in 1975...and in
1977, 1978 and 1984. In the '90s the
accolades
continue. He
was inducted into the Country Music
Disc Jockey Hall of
Fame in 1992, the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1993, and scored the
Oklahoma
Association
of Broadcasters' Lifetime Achievement
Award in 1995.
Through it all, he's continued with his
recordings and
live performances. Among his best-known hits are
1982's "Who's Gonna
Sing The Last Country
Song," 1978's "Until The Next Time," and
an
evergreen called "Lord,
If I Make It To Heaven (Can
I Bring My Own Angel
Along)," a 1977 single that is
one of his most-requested songs to this day. His
many
albums include
a gospel offering, "I'll Speak Out For
You,
Jesus," which earned him the Top Country
Personality Award from the International Gospel
Music Association.
Billy knows, appreciates and loves
western-swing
music and the people
who made, and make, it. His
Love of KVOO doesn't only
prove that;
it also
shows that this Hall of Famer is a man who, after
all
of his honors and achievements, remains a major
force in country music.
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