 Country star Mel Tillis is notable not only because of his long, successful career, but also because he had to overcome a serious speech impediment - stuttering - to even talk, let alone sing (and sing well, at that). Born Lonnie Melvin Tillis in Tampa, Fla., on August 8, 1932, Tillis came down with malaria when he was only three years old; the disease caused permanent damage to his speech, causing him to stutter. Despite his handicap, Tillis -- who had learned guitar, violin and drums in school -- began performing in public at age 16. While in the military, he even fronted an amateur country group called the Westerners. In 1955, when he rejoined civilian life, Tillis went to college, worked odd jobs, and then moved to Nashville to seek his fortune as a songwriter and musician. His first success came two years later when honky tonker Webb Pierce scored a Top 5 hit with Tillis' "I'm Tired." In 1958 Tillis scored his own Top 40 hit with "The Violet and a Rose." He followed up with numbers like "Finally," "Sawmill" and "Georgia Town Blues," but continued writing hits for Pierce as well, penning numbers like "No Love Have I," "Crazy Wild Desire," "I Ain't Never." It wasn't until 1962 that Tillis released his full-length debut, Heart Over Mind, but during the next few years his career gathered steam, as he broke into the Top 15 in 1965 with "Wine," and into the Top 10 in 1968 with "Who's Julie." Meanwhile, artists like Waylon Jennings and Kenny Rogers covered Tillis' material, further raising his profile as a songwriter and performer. By the end of the 1960s, Tillis was more successful than ever, scoring hits like "These Lonely Hands of Mine," "She'll Be Hanging Around Somewhere," "Heart Over Mind," "Heaven Everyday," and many more. He scored his first No. 1 in 1972 with "I Ain't Never," and repeated the feat many more times during the decade with songs like "Heart Healer," "I Believe in You," "Coca Cola Cowboy," "Good Woman Blues" and "Southern Rains." Over the next decade he began spending more time songwriting and acting than performing, scoring a few Top 10 hits like "In the Middle of the Night" while turning out dozens of hits for younger artists like Randy Travis and Ricky Skaggs and acting in films such as Cannonball Run (1981), Cannonball Run II (1984), and Uphill All the Way (1985). Today, more than 40 years after launching his career, Mel Tillis remains a popular country performer, still performing at his theater in Branson, Mo. Seth Hindin
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