Early years Ford was born in
Fordtown, Tennessee, United States, to Maud (née Long) and Clarence Thomas Ford. He spent much of his time in his early years listening to country or western musicians, in person or on the radio. Ford began wandering around
Bristol, Tennessee, in his high school years, taking an interest in radio and began his radio career as an announcer at
WOPI in 1937, being paid 10 dollars a week. In 1938, the young
bass-baritone left the station and went to study classical music at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in
Ohio. He returned for the announcing job in 1939 and did it from 1939 to 1941 in stations from
Atlanta, Georgia, to
Knoxville, Tennessee. A
first lieutenant, he served in the
United States Army Air Corps in
World War II as the
bombardier on a
B-29 Superfortress, but the war ended before he was to be sent to
Japan. He was also a bombing instructor at
George Air Force Base, in
Victorville, California. After the war, Ford worked at radio stations in
San Bernardino and
Pasadena, California. At
KFXM, in San Bernardino, Ford was hired as a radio announcer. He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program, ''Bar Nothin' Ranch Time''. To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie", a wild, madcap, exaggerated hillbilly. He became popular in the area and was soon hired away by Pasadena's country radio station
KXLA. He also did musical tours. The Mayfield Brothers of
West Texas, including
Smokey Mayfield,
Thomas Edd Mayfield, and
Herbert Mayfield, were among Ford's warmup bands, having played for him in concerts in
Amarillo and
Lubbock, during the late 1940s. He released almost 50 country
singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the
Billboard charts. Many of his early records, including "
The Shotgun Boogie" and "Blackberry Boogie", were exciting, driving boogie-woogie records featuring accompaniment by the 'Hometown Jamboree' band, which included
Jimmy Bryant on lead guitar and pioneer pedal steel guitarist
Speedy West. "
I'll Never Be Free", a duet pairing Ford with Capitol Records pop singer
Kay Starr, became a huge country and pop crossover hit in 1950. A duet with
Ella Mae Morse, "False Hearted Girl" was a top seller for the Capitol Country and Hillbilly division. Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950s, moved on from
Hometown Jamboree. He took over from bandleader
Kay Kyser as host of the TV version of
NBC quiz show College of Musical Knowledge when it returned briefly in 1954 after a four-year hiatus. He became a household name in the U.S., largely as a result of his portrayal of "Cousin Ernie" in the
I Love Lucy episodes "Tennessee Ernie Visits", "Tennessee Ernie Hangs On" (both 1954), and "Tennessee Bound" (1955). In 1955, Ford recorded "
The Ballad of Davy Crockett" (which reached number 4 on the country music chart) with "Farewell to the Mountains" on the
B-side.
"Sixteen Tons" cover version success Ford scored an unexpected hit on the pop chart in 1955 with his rendering of "
Sixteen Tons", a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament.
Merle Travis had first recorded it in 1946. It reflected experiences of the Travis family in the mines at
Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The song's fatalistic tone and bleak imagery were in stark contrast to some sugary pop ballads and
rock & roll also on the charts in 1955: With Ford's snapping fingers and a unique clarinet-driven pop arrangement by Ford's music director, Jack Fascinato, "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country chart and seven weeks at number one on the pop chart. The record sold over two million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc. The song made Ford a crossover star, and became his
signature song.
The Ford Show Ford subsequently hosted his own prime-time variety program,
The Ford Show, which ran on
NBC television from October 4, 1956, to June 29, 1961. Ford's last name allowed the show title to carry a unique
double entendre by selling the
naming rights to the
Ford Motor Company (Ford had no known relation to the
Ford family who founded that company). The
Ford Theatre, an anthology series also sponsored by the company, had run in the same time slot on NBC in the preceding 1955–1956 season. Ford's program was notable for the inclusion of a religious song at the end of every show, a tradition he recalled during his days as a cast member on
Cliffie Stone's
Hometown Jamboree live radio and TV show. Ford insisted on ending with a hymn on his own show despite objections from network officials and the ad agency representing Ford, who feared it might provoke controversy. Everyone relented after the hymns received overwhelmingly favorable viewer response. The hymn became the most popular segment of his show. He earned the nickname "The Ol' Pea-Picker" due to his catchphrase, "Bless your pea-pickin' heart!" He began using the term during his disc jockey days on KXLA.
Later years In 1956, he released
Hymns, his first
gospel music album, which remained on
Billboards Top Album charts for 277 consecutive weeks; his album
Great Gospel Songs won a
Grammy Award in 1964 and was nominated for several others. Out of the public eye, Ford and wife Betty contended with serious alcohol problems; Betty had the problem since the 1950s, as well as emotional issues that complicated both their lives and the lives of their sons. Though his drinking began to worsen in the 1960s, he worked continuously, seemingly unaffected by his heavy intake of
whiskey. By the 1970s, however, it had begun to take an increasing toll on his health, appearance, and ability to sing, though his problems were not known publicly. After Betty took her own life in 1989 because of prescription drug abuse, Ernie's liver problems, diagnosed years earlier, became more apparent, but he refused to reduce his drinking despite repeated doctors' warnings. His last interview was taped on September 23, 1991, by his long-time friend
Dinah Shore for her TV show, and was later aired on December 4 that year. Ford received posthumous recognition for his gospel music contributions by being added to the
Gospel Music Association's
Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1994. == Personal life ==