‘A White Sport Coat’ crossed musical genres
This week in 1957: The supersonic B-58 bomber was successfully tested in Fort Worth, Texas; U.S. Secretary of Defense ordered a reduction in U.S. military force by 100,000 troops; Jimmy Hoffa was acquitted on bribery charges; and a young singer from Glendale, Arizona, named Martin David Robinson, who by this time was known as Marty Robbins, was being accused of deserting his country music fans and selling out to the pop music market — all of which came about because of a song titled “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation.”
Columbia Records discovered Robbins performing on a Phoenix TV Station and signed him to a recording contract.
His first release of “I’ll Go on Alone” went to No. 1 in 1952. Marty didn’t see the top of the charts again until “Singing The Blues” took him there in 1956.
The record made it to No. 17 on the pop charts but the record’s pop success was cut short by Guy Mitchell’s recording of the same song.
Robbins follow-up recording session was in New York City and “A White Sport Coat” was one of the songs recorded on that session.
“A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” entered the country music charts April 20th, 1957, made it to No. 1 and stuck there for five weeks, while scoring a No. 2 on the pop charts.
Even though the record was a hit in country music, the sound was a little less country than the fans were used to and when the single climbed to No. 2 on the pop charts, many of his die-hard country fans accused Marty Robbins of selling out to the pop music market.
Robbins was somewhat irritated at the whole thing and commented “I have never been ashamed of singing or buying country music just the same as I have never been ashamed that I liked Perry Como, or Eddy Arnold, or Fats Domino, or anybody else. Music is music — it’s either good or it’s bad!”
Between 1952 and 1983, Marty Robbins placed 94 songs on the country music charts including 17 no. 1s. Thirty-one of his 94 country chart songs also scored on the pop music charts.
Marty Robbins joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1953.
He was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1982.
Marty Robbins died of heart failure in 1982.
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