Early career Downing was born in
Lenapah, Oklahoma, United States. In addition, "I'll Be Holding On" was a hit in Europe. On the other US charts, the single went to No. 31 on the soul chart and No. 85 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
Country music with Warner Brothers Al Downing's popularity continued to grow, and he had several hits on the country charts between 1978 and 1989. He compiled a list of his own songs, which he presented to his producer at Warner Brothers. In 1978, "Mr. Jones" reached the Top 20, followed by "Touch Me (I'll Be Your Fool Once More)" in 1979. That same year, Downing produced "Midnight Lace", which reached the 50s on the charts, and "I Ain't No Fool", which peaked at the upper 70s. In 1980, the "Story Behind The Story" reached the Top 40 and "Bring It On Home" reached the Top 20. That same year he was nominated for
Best New Male Vocalist from the
Academy of Country Music. Two years passed before Downing created another hit, this time with the Team label. In 1982, "I'll Be Loving You" reached the Top 50, followed by "Darlene", which reached the lower 60s. The next year, "It Takes Love" reached the Top 40, followed by "Let's Sing About Love", which peaked in the mid-60s. In 1984, "The Best Of Families" became a Top 50 hit; That same year, Downing released his final hit with the Team label, "There’ll Never Be A Better Night For Being Wrong".
Vine Street years In 1987, Downing was signed by the
Vine Street label, which released the "Oh How Beautiful You Are" (To Me) and "Just One Night Won't Do", both of which hit the Top 70. Two years later, he was signed by Door Knob Records, with whom he produced the 1989 Top 100 hit, "I Guess By Now". The popular entertainer
Fats Domino recorded two songs written by Downing: "Mary, Oh Mary" and "Heartbreak Hill".
Bobby "Blue" Bland and
Tom Jones have also recorded Downing's songs.
Later career Downing built a five-decade career around his powerful singing voice and his hard-driving rockabilly-style piano. Downing's compilations of earlier work have been released throughout the world. In Europe, Crazy Music obtained exclusive rights for the original Team label recordings and released these in the form of a 2-CD compilation,
Classic Collection. This also contained some of Downing's earlier hits, including "Mr. Jones". In July 2002, he played the Oneida Casino's Rock'n'Roll Festival in
Green Bay, Wisconsin with dozens of other rockabilly musicians. In 2003, Downing released his first new album in more than a decade,
One of A Kind. The album received favourable radio and print reviews. It ranked third on
American Roots Country and was commended for featuring 14 memorable tracks. He continued to give regular performances at the Grand Ole Opry. In 2000, he was nominated as a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Downing continued to perform on more than 75 occasions per year in the remaining years of his life. He appeared at
Ontario's
Havelock Country Jamboree with
Kenny Rogers and
Roy Clark. In 2005, Downing postponed plans for a European tour that was set to begin on July 1 in Austria. He was hospitalized and diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic
leukemia. Soon after, he commenced
chemotherapy treatment. Downing died on July 4, 2005. ==Style==