Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger associated with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones.

Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regarded as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, a smooth amalgamation of pop and country music that was popular during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s.

Born in the town of Phil Campbell, Alabama, in 1936, the son of an evangelical preacher, Sherrill was attracted to jazz and blues music, learning to play the piano and, in his teens, the saxophone.

Houston's recording of Sherrill's and Glenn Sutton's composition "Livin' in a House Full of Love" reached #3 on the country chart in late 1965, and followed it up with "Almost Persuaded", also written by Sherrill and Sutton,[1] which spent nine weeks at the top of the U.S. country charts in mid 1966.

Sherrill often played double duty as a songwriter, usually in tandem with Norro Wilson and George Richey.

In the same documentary, Sherrill claimed that Jones was in such bad physical shape during this period that "the recitation was recorded 18 months after the first verse was" and added that the last words Jones said about "He Stopped Loving Her Today" was "Nobody'll buy that morbid son of a bitch" (These comments were repeated during the Ken Burns Country Music series in 2019 though Sherrill had died four years earlier.).

When news surfaced that the couple were in divorce proceedings, which would eventually last quite a few months, the song that capitalized on this the most was "The Grand Tour" which hit #1 for Jones in 1974.

When their divorce became final in early 1975, the appropriate songs by Jones released at the time were "Memories of Us" and "I Just Don't Give a Damn".

[1] Rich had been a marginally successful performer of blues and early rock and roll, scoring a minor hit with the tune "Lonely Weekends", but it was his early 1970s work with Sherrill, particularly the countrypolitan hits "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl", that brought Rich to national and international prominence.

[2] Other artists with whom Sherrill worked included Barbara Mandrell -- whom he signed to Columbia Records in 1969 -- Sandy Posey, Shelby Lynne, Marty Robbins, Ray Charles, Johnny Paycheck, Tanya Tucker, Johnny Cash,[7] Janie Fricke, Lacy J. Dalton, Ray Conniff, Bobby Vinton, Bob Luman, Johnny Duncan, Jim and Jesse, Jody Miller, Moe Bandy, Joe Stampley, Charlie Walker, Barbara Fairchild, Andy Williams, Cliff Richard ("The Minute You're Gone"), Mickey Gilley, and David Allan Coe.

[2] In the 1981 made-for-television movie based on Tammy Wynette's book Stand By Your Man, Sherrill was portrayed by James Hampton.

[8] On February 23, 2010, Sherrill was selected for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Don Williams, Ferlin Husky, and Jimmy Dean.