Jimmie Hugh Loden (May 1, 1928 – February 22, 2016), known professionally as Sonny James, was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, "Young Love", topping both the Billboard Hot Country and Billboard's Disk Jockey singles charts.

Dubbed the "Southern Gentleman" for his congenial manner, his greatest success came from ballads about the trials of love.

James was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1961 and co-hosted the first Country Music Association Awards Show in 1967.

His parents were amateur musicians, and his sister Thelma Lee Loden Holcombe also played instruments and sang from an early age.

About this time the parents volunteered to raise an Alabama girl named Ruby Palmer, and soon Ruby was also part of the musical group, and the singing Loden Family, later billed as Sonny Loden and the Southerners, was soon playing theaters, auditoriums and schoolhouses throughout the Southern United States.

Near Christmastime that year, the two girls were married in West Memphis, Arkansas in a double ceremony[4] and left the group.

[4] During the summer of 1950, James worked with a band, sometimes singing but he was most useful as a guitar player[4] on the Memphis, Tennessee radio station WHBQ.

On September 9, 1950, his career was interrupted by the Korean War when his Alabama Army National Guard unit was activated.

After military service in Korea, James moved to Nashville, where he spent a week staying with Chet Atkins and his wife.

James had roomed with Atkins years earlier in Raleigh, North Carolina when they were playing at the same radio station.

James' performance on stage playing a fiddle and singing brought a strong crowd response, and Whitman invited him to front for his new touring band.

The Loden family had only appeared in schoolhouses and such and Sonny agreed to stay on for a few shows until Whitman could find his replacement.

He also appeared on radio, including Big D Jamboree, before moving to the all-important new medium, television, where he became a regular performer on ABC's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri beginning in October 1955.

6 song "A Little Bit South of Saskatoon" that was in the 1977 Paul Newman hockey comedy Slap Shot.

James signed with National Recording Corporation, and then stints with Dot (1960–1961), RCA (1961–1962), his second time with Capitol (1963–1972), and later with Columbia (1972–1979), Monument (1979) and Dimension (1981–1983).

In 1962 he returned to his roots and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry and a year later signed again with Capitol Records.

1 Billboard hit since "Young Love" – topping the country charts with the song he co-wrote with Bob Tubert, "You're The Only World I Know".

With his musical style now refined and his "sound" on records and on personal appearances produced to be immediately identifiable, Sonny James was set to begin what became his streak of 16 straight No.

In 1973, James also helped launch the solo career of Marie Osmond, producing and arranging her first three albums, including her smash hit, "Paper Roses".

Those five songs were Since I Met You Baby, It's Just A Matter of Time, Endlessly, Empty Arms, and Bright Lights, Big City, all of which hit No.

[16] On August 15, 2015, exactly 51 years to the day when he first teamed up with The Southern Gentlemen in 1964, James was inducted into The Birmingham Record Collectors Hall of Fame.