FORD, TENNESSEE ERNIE
(1919–1991)
FORD, TENNESSEE ERNIE (b. Ernest Jennings F., Bristol, Tenn., February 13, 1919–October 17, 1991) Finger-snappin', pencil-moustached TV star and singer, Ford is best remembered for his (melo)dramatic rendition of MERLE TRAVIS 's Sixteen Tons, a mid-1950s hit. Ford was as much a personality as a country singer, and became a well-recognized icon of 1950s and 1960s TV variety shows. Ford did not have a particularly rural upbringing; he was raised in Bristol, Tennessee, a Southern mill town, where…