Career
He was also a garage owner, and a mentor and neighbor of Stuart Hilborn and worked with Hilborn to design and build Hilborn"s first hot rod to race on the Southern California dry lakes.
He was also a garage owner, and a mentor and neighbor of Stuart Hilborn and worked with Hilborn to design and build Hilborn"s first hot rod to race on the Southern California dry lakes.
He was the founder of the Country and Western Music Academy in Hollywood, as well as a co-founder of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (of which he served as the first president and also another term in the presidency). He received Performance Awards from Broadcast Music, Inc. for "There She Goes" (1954), for "Thanks a Lot" (1964), and "Release Me" (1954, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, and 1973, as well as a Most Performed Song award in 1968 and a Pop & Country Performance Award in 1974).
