NASHVILLE, TENN. (AP) - Billy Grammer, whose 1958 hit “Gotta Travel On’” hit the top of the charts and led to a long career on the Grand Ole Opry, has died. He was 85.
A statement from Grand Ole Opry spokeswoman Jessie Schmidt says Grammer died Wednesday morning in his home state of Illinois of natural causes.
Grammer, a singer and guitarist who also was a Nashville recording session musician, suffered a heart attack in late March 2011 while visiting Plano, Texas.
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He performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1959.
“Gotta Travel On,” adapted from a British folk tune, was a million-seller and the first hit for Nashville’s Monument Records and its famed founder, Fred Foster. It was a hit on the pop, country and rhythm & blues charts.
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