Larry Gatlin
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Gatlin issued his debut album, The Pilgrim, later that year, and it produced his first charting country single, Sweet Becky Walker, which inched into the Top 40. 1974s Delta Dirt was his first Top 20 hit, taken from the album Rain Rainbow. Gatlins brothers first made their presence felt on his third album, 1976s Larry Gatlin With Family & Friends, which gave him his first Top Five hit in Broken Lady. Sometimes accompanied by his brothers, Gatlin scored three more Top Five singles in 1977 (I Dont Wanna Cry, Love Is Just a Game, and Statues Without Hearts), and in 1978 scored his first number one, I Just Wish You Were Someone I Love. When Gatlin left Monument for Columbia in 1979, he started crediting the Gatlin Brothers Band on all of his recordings, starting with that years number one smash All the Gold in California. Although the groups subsequent releases had several variations on the Gatlin Brothers name, and often billed Larry out front, it was all essentially Gatlin Brothers music from then on.
The Gatlin Brothers success continued for much of the 80s, bringing them nine more Top Ten hits and another number one with 1983s Houston (Means Im One Day Closer to You). Their last big hit came in 1987 with the Top Five Talkin to the Moon, but their brand of smooth country-pop was soon eclipsed by the
ew traditionalist movement. After a commercial decline of several years, the group decided to retire in 1991 and embarked on a successful farewell tour. Larry Gatlin starred in the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies, and in 1993 the group opened their own theater in Branson, MO. In 1998, Gatlin released the solo gospel album In My Life.
