Woodrow Wilson Sovine, better known as Red Sovine, was born in Charleston, West Virginia, and became an American country singer whose career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 1980. He signed with MGM Records in 1949 and later moved to Decca, where he scored his first Number 1 hit in 1956 with a duet cover of "Why Baby Why" alongside Webb Pierce. After signing with Starday Records in 1959, he found his niche in trucker-themed narrative songs, beginning with "Giddyup Go" in 1965, which topped the country charts. He followed with other trucking ballads including "Phantom 309" and, in 1976, his biggest hit, "Teddy Bear," which topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and was certified gold in the United States. Sovine died on April 4, 1980, in Nashville after suffering a heart attack while driving, which led to a car accident. His narrative trucking songs remain influential within the genre and continue to be reissued on compilation albums.
