Hank Williams, Jr.

As the son of one of country music's ultimate legends, Hank Williams Jnr's career was always destined to be overshadowed, yet, with his own anti-establishment instinct, he made his own mark as a country outlaw who ruffled the feathers of Nashville elite. He was initially dismissed as a clone of his father, singing his songs and copying his style but gradually developed his own style by adopting other genres, notably blues and rock. He also wrote some memorable songs, notably All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight, which was used for over a decade as the theme song for a long-running American football TV show. He was nicknamed Bocephus by his father but, following his father's sudden premature death in 1953, he was mostly raised by his mother, who is said to have molded him in his father's image and managed his early career. It brought him a series of country hits in the 1960s and 1970s and for a while it looked like he was following his father's descent into drugs and alcohol but, after moving to Alabama he turned his personal life around. He also restructured his music away from pure country, adopting a southern rock approach and re-establishing himself with the album Hank Williams Jnr & Friends, also featuring Waylon Jennings and Charlie Daniels. He continued to work closely with Jennings, in particular, but was seriously injured and nearly killed during a mountain-climbing accident in 1975. He recovered to produce a series of major hits through the 1980s, notably If The South Woulda Won and There's A Tear In My Beer, a duet with his father using electronic technology. He had another big hit in 2001, re-writing his earlier hit A Country Boy Can Survive as America Can Survive in response to the 9/11 atrocity and continued to be a popular and influential artist through the 2000s; but, strongly committed to the Republican cause, Williams upset President Obama supporters with his extreme views during the run-up to the 2012 presidential election.