Wilburn Steven Rice was born on April 19, 1939. He learned to play guitar at age fourteen and was signed to his first recording contract at age 18. In 1960, he had his first cut as a songwriter when
Elvis Presley recorded "Girl Next Door Went A-Walking". Rice met songwriter Jerry Foster while on tour and began collaborating with him. The two wrote songs together and were signed to a songwriting contract through the assistance of
"Cowboy" Jack Clement. Some of the earliest songs they wrote were "Big Big City" and "Quarter Mile Rows", which were both recorded by singer-pianist
Moon Mullican. Their writing partnership has been hugely successful with many dozens of charting hits from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Two of his cuts received
Grammy Award nominations: "Back Side of Dallas" by
Jeannie C. Riley and "
Here Comes the Hurt Again" by
Mickey Gilley. He had also received 73 awards from the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the most received by any songwriter. ==Discography==