American songwriter, a record producer and a music business executive.
Born October 3, 1924 in McKinney, Texas, USA.
Died August. 2, 2002 (aged 77) in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Married to one of his frequent songwriting collaborators Audrey Allison.
Allison started as a radio dj in 1943. In 1949 he moved to Nashville, in 1952 to Los Angeles. In 1959 he wrote He’ll Have to Go with his wife, recorded by Jim Reeves. The song stands several weeks on top of the charts. In 1960 Allison started a country music division at Liberty Records. He worked with Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, Roy Clarke, Tommy Collins, Howard Harlan and Bobbie Bare. Well known compositions are: He’ll Have to Go and Live Fast and Love Hard, Die Young.
He charted as a songwriter in the U.S. ten times and five times in the U.K. between 1946-1974, eight of those with his wife and sometimes others. His first charted song came aloe: When You Leave Don’t Slam the Door by Tex Ritter, which hit #3 country in 1946. In 1959, he and his wife’s song He’ll Have to Go by Jim Reeves was a crossover hit, hitting #2 overall as well as #1 country, #13 R&B, and #12 in the U.K. Their answer song, that same year was also a crossover hit, He’ll Have to Stay by Jeanne Black (with new lyrics by Charles Randolph Grean) hit #4 overall, #6 country, #11 R&B, and #41 in the U.K.
In 1961, Allison started working at Central Songs, a publishing house based in Los Angeles. He also hosted a radio show on the Armed Forces Radio Network, which went on to become the longest running show on the network.
Country Music DJ Hall of Fame (1976) Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1978) Texas Country Music Hall of Fame (1998) WSM Grand Ole Opry WWVA Wheeling, WV, KPLT Paris, TX (1943) KMAC San Antonio, TX (1944) WSM Nashville, TN (1948) WMAK Nashville, TN (1949) KXLA Pasadena, CA (1953) KFOX Long Beach, CA (1960).