E.T.C.: The Four #1s That Made History

[onebuffalo]

During the summer of 1984, RCA Records threw a party for Earl Thomas Conley. Why? He had just landed his fourth chart topping hit off his 1983 album, Don't Make It Easy For Me. That was Angel In Disguise (no one else had scored a quartet of chart toppers off of an album). The three that preceded it were: Your Love's On The Line (1983), Holding Her And Loving You (1983), and Don't Make It Easy For Me (1984). In 1980, Conley signed to the Sunbird label. He issued his debut single for them in October called Silent Treatment. That peaked at #7 in February, 1981 and became the first of 26 top tens for Conley. The second single, Fire And Smoke was released in March and that became his first chart topping hit in July. Billboard named it the biggest hit of the year. Shortly after that peaked, RCA stepped in and bought out Conley's Sunbird contract. RCA released the Fire And Smoke album with the first two singles and they promoted the other two, both peaking in 1982: Tell Me Why (#10) and After The Love Slips Away/Smokey Mountain Memories (#16). The b-side of the latter was Conley's version of the Mel Street hit of 1975 (#13) that Conley wrote. RCA and Conley were together for their first album called Somewhere Between Right And Wrong (1982). Three hits came from that album: Heavenly Bodies (#8), the title track (#1), and I Have Loved You, Girl But Not Like This Before (#2 in 1983 and Conley's biggest #2 hit). The latter was a rerecording of his #87 hit in 1975. The Don't Make It Easy For Me album was released in 1983. Lead single, Your Love's On The Line was released in April. It became Conley's third #1 hit in August. It started his historic run of chart topping hits off the album.

Artist-Earl Thomas Conley
Single-Your Love's On The Line
Writers-Randy Scruggs and Earl Thomas Conley
Producers-Nelson Larkin and Earl Thomas Conley
Album-Don't Make It Easy For Me
Label-RCA
Year Released-1983
Billboard Peak-#1

BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING AUGUST 6, 1983:
1. YOUR LOVE'S ON THE LINE-EARL THOMAS CONLEY-RCA
2. He's A Heartache Looking For A Place To Happen-Janie Frickie-Columbia
3. Lost In The Feeling-Conway Twitty-Warner Bros.
4. I Love Her Mind-Bellamy Brothers-Warner Bros.
5. Love Song-the Oak Ridge Boys-MCA
6. Leave Them Boys Alone-Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Ernest Tubb-Warner Bros.
7. Your Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation-Ronnie McDowell-Epic
8. A Fire I Can't Put Out-George Strait-MCA
9. Atlanta Burned Again Last Night-Atlanta-MDJ
10. Where Are You Spending Your Nights These Days-David Frizzell-Viva

[seak05]

Massively underrated artist

[CoJoFan]

Jun 10, 2019 14:43:59 GMT -5 seak05 said:

Massively underrated artist

Amen to that!

[onebuffalo]

The second single from the Don't Make It Easy For Me album was Holding Her And Loving You. That was released in August, 1983 and topped the chart in November. Out of the four singles pulled from the album, it is the one Earl Thomas Conley did NOT write. It is considered to be a country classic. In 1998, Clay Walker charted his version of the song which peaked at #68.

Artist-Earl Thomas Conley
Single-Holding Her And Loving You
Writers-Walt Aldridge and Tom Brasfield
Producers-Nelson Larkin and Earl Thomas Conley
Album-Don't Make It Easy For Me
Label-RCA
Year Released-1983
Billboard Peak-#1

BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 26, 1983:
1. HOLDING HER AND LOVING YOU-EARL THOMAS CONLEY-RCA
2. Tennessee Whiskey-George Jones-Epic
3. A Little Good News-Anne Murray-Capitol
4. Baby I Lied-Deborah Allen-RCA
5. Tell Me A Lie-Janie Frickie-Columbia
6. Heartache Tonight-Conway Twitty-Warner Bros.
7. Black Sheep-John Anderson-Warner Bros.
8. Your Love Shines Through-Mickey Gilley-Epic
9. Don't Count The Rainy Days-Michael Martin Murphey-Liberty
10. Houston Means I'm One Day Closer To You-Gatlin Brothers-Columbia

[onebuffalo]

The third Don't Make It Easy For Me single was the title track. That was released in December, 1983 and topped the chart in April, 1984. It would be the fourth consecutive year that Earl Thomas Conley had a #1 hit.

Artist-Earl Thomas Conley
Single-Don't Make It Easy For Me
Writers-Randy Scruggs and Earl Thomas Conley
Producers-Nelson Larkin and Earl Thomas Conley
Album-Don't Make It Easy For Me
Label-RCA
Year Released-1983
Billboard Peak-#1 in 1984

BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING APRIL 7, 1984:
1. DON'T MAKE IT EASY FOR ME-EARL THOMAS CONLEY-RCA
2. Let's Stop Talkin' About It-Janie Frickie-Columbia
3. Thank God For The Radio-the Kendalls-Mercury
4. I've Been Wrong Before-Deborah Allen-RCA
5. The Yellow Rose-Johnny Lee and Lane Brody-Warner Bros.
6. Right Or Wrong-George Strait-MCA
7. Will It Be Love By Morning-Michael Martin Murphey-Liberty
8. Happy Birthday Dear Heartache-Barbara Mandrell-MCA
9. Sweet Country Music-Atlanta-MCA
10. If I Could Only Dance With You-Jim Glaser-Noble Vision

[onebuffalo]

Earl Thomas Conley wrapped up the Don't Make It Easy For Me Era (1983-1984) by releasing the fourth and final single, Angel In Disguise. Released in April, it topped the chart in July. That made Conley the first artist in ANY genre to take a quartet of singles to the top of the chart from one album. Conley would replicate the feat with his 1988 album, The Heart Of It All. Its four #1s are:
1. What She Is Is A Woman In Love-1988
2. We Believe In Happy Endings-with Emmylou Harris-1988
3. What I'd Say-1989
4. Love Out Loud-1989
That streak of #1s was snapped by the fifth single, You Must Not De Drinking Enough. That peaked at #26. Since Don't Make It Easy For Me, the album, the feat of achieving four chart toppers has happened another 39 times. The most recent album to do so was Tangled Up by Thomas Rhett. Its four chart toppers are:
1. Crash And Burn-2015
2. Die A Happy Man-2016
3. T-Shirt-2016
4. Star Of The Show-2017
Sadly, we lost Conley this year in April at the age of 77. R.I.P., Conley. You will be missed.

Artist-Earl Thomas Conley
Single-Angel In Disguise
Writers-Randy Scruggs and Earl Thomas Conley
Producers-Nelson Larkin and Earl Thomas Conley
Album-Don't Make It Easy For Me
Label-RCA
Year Released-1984
Billboard Peak-#1

BILLBOARD TOP TEN FOR WEEK ENDING JULY 28, 1984:
1. ANGEL IN DISGUISE-EARL THOMAS CONLEY-RCA
2. Mama He's Crazy-the Judds-RCA
3. B-B-B-Burnin' Up With Love-Eddie Rabbitt-Warner Bros.
4. That's The Thing About-Don Williams-MCA
5. Just Another Woman In Love-Anne Murray-Capitol
6. Still Losing You-Ronnie Milsap-RCA
7. God Bless The U.S.A.-Lee Greenwood-MCA
8. Where's The Dress-Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley-Columbia
9. Long Hard Road The Sharecropper's Dream-Nitty Gritty Dirt Band-Warner Bros.
10. New Patches-Mel Tillis-MCA

[onebuffalo]

Let us end the Earl Thomas Conley series like we did the Keith Whitley one. This interview took place in 1988, just ahead of the release of The Heart Of It All album. Conley talks about a wide array of topics.