Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932[1] – November 19, 2017)[2] was an American country music singer and songwriter.

Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, with a long list of Top 10 hits.

Tillis' biggest hits include "I Ain't Never", "Good Woman Blues", and "Coca-Cola Cowboy".

On February 13, 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts for his contributions to country music.

[5] After leaving the Air Force in 1955,[1] Tillis returned to Florida where he worked a number of odd jobs, eventually finding employment with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Tampa.

He used his railroad pass to visit Nashville and eventually met and auditioned for Wesley Rose of the publishing house Acuff-Rose Music.

[1] Ray Price, Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee also charted hits with Tillis' material around this time.

Although Tillis charted his own hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs list, he had more success as a songwriter, particularly for Webb Pierce.

(Some well-known songs from his Columbia years include "The Brooklyn Bridge", "Loco Weed", and "Walk on, Boy".)

It has also been covered by the Hacienda Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, Barbara Mandrell, and Jamey Johnson.

He finally achieved the success he always wanted with two Top 10 country hits, "These Lonely Hands of Mine"[1] and "She'll Be Hanging Around Somewhere".

Hits soon came quite easily, such as "Heaven Everyday" (1970), "Commercial Affection" (1970), "Arms of a Fool" (1970), "Take My Hand" (a duet with Sherry Bryce in 1971),[1] and "Brand New Mister Me" (1971).

Other hits Tillis had on MGM include "Stomp Them Grapes" (1974), "Memory Maker" (1974), "Woman in the Back of My Mind" (1975), and his version of "Mental Revenge" (1976).

1 in 1978 with "I Believe In You" and then again in 1979 with "Coca-Cola Cowboy",[1] which was put in the Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way but Loose,[1] in which he also made a cameo appearance.

By this time, however, Tillis had built up a financial empire, thanks to investing in music publishing companies such as Sawgrass and Cedarwood.

Tillis appeared in movies, including Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), The Cannonball Run II (1984), Beer for My Horses (2008), and comedy westerns The Villain (1979) and Uphill All the Way (1986), in which he starred with fellow country singer Roy Clark.

Following his heyday in the 1970s, Tillis remained a songwriter in the 1980s, writing hits for Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis.

A companion video, as well as a Greatest Hits album (composed of previously released material by each individual artist), were also available.

He was inducted into the Opry by his daughter Pam, and is the only person in the show's history to be welcomed into membership by their child.

(In the 1990s, Pam became a very successful country music singer in her own right,[1] with Top Ten hits like "Maybe It Was Memphis", "Shake the Sugar Tree" and the Number One "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)".)

[1] Pam recorded for Arista Nashville in the 1990s where she had multiple country hit singles such as "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)" and "Maybe It Was Memphis".

Several notable musicians have served as Statesiders, such as Buddy Cannon, Paul Franklin, Hoot Hester, and Jimmy Belken of the Strangers.