NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Country Music Hall of Fame member Mel Tillis has died after a long illness. He was 85.
In a press release from Absolute Publicity, Tillis' publicist Don Murry Grubbs confirmed that Tillis died at the Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Florida after battling intestinal issue since 2016.
The Tillis family said they plan to announce funeral arrangements for Nashville and Florida in the upcoming days.
Tillis moved to Nashville from the Plant City, FL, area after serving in the United States Air Force as a baker.
“It seems like just yesterday that I left Florida head’n for Nashville in my ’49 Mercury with a busted windshield, a pregnant wife and $29 in my pocket,” Tillis is quoted on his website.
He wrote over 1,000 songs with around 600 being recorded by major artists.
One of his biggest songwriting his was Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town, which was recorded by Kenny Rogers.
Tillis appeared in movies with Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood.
His career was launched in 1956 after Webb Pierce recorded I’m Tired, which was written by Tillis.
He was as comfortable on stage as he was at home. Tillis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October 2007, just four months after joining the Grand Ole Opry.
He was a great songwriter and his sense of humor won over anyone who ever met him.
Tillis may be best known for stuttering. It made him millions, but didn’t come up while singing, only when he talked.
He didn’t make fun of it, but fought through it. Tillis was a classic country comedian, a Las Vegas headliner and a movie star.
He appeared in several movies, including Every Which Way But Loose with Clint Eastwood, and W.W. & The Dixie Dancekings, Cannonball Run I and II, and Smokey and the Bandit II with Burt Reynolds.
His movie and national talk show appearances, which included The Tonight Show and David Letterman, always made the highlight reel, from a small-town talent show in rural Florida to co-starring roles with some of the biggest names in Hollywood in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Tillis was born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, but went by Mel. He loved his Florida-based sports teams. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2012 from President Barack Obama and is a former CMA Entertainer of the Year.
Tillis had six children, songwriter Mel (Sonny) Tillis Jr., singer-songwriter Pam Tillis, Carrie April Tillis, Connie Tillis, Cindy Tillis and Hannah Tillis.
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