However, after he joined some friends watching Hank Williams perform with nine encores on the Louisiana Hayride, Young switched to country music instead.

2, and the US Army Band took Young to replace Eddie Fisher on tours—its first country music singer—just as "If You Ain't Lovin'" was hitting the charts.

[3] During the mid-1950s, Young starred in four low-budget films: Hidden Guns, Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer, Raiders of Old California and Country Music Holiday.

He appeared as himself in cameo roles and performances in later country music films and was a frequent guest on television shows throughout his career, including ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee.

The same year, Young switched to Mercury Records and drifted musically, but by the end of the decade he had returned to his sound including "Wine Me Up".

Released in 1971, waltz-time ballad "It's Four in the Morning" written by Jerry Chesnut[citation needed] was one of Young's records and his last number one hit, also becoming his only major success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No.

By the mid-1970s his records were becoming overshadowed by his behavior, making headlines in 1972 when he was charged with assault for spanking a girl in the audience at a concert in Clarksburg, West Virginia, who he claimed spat on him,[2] and for other later incidents.

[citation needed] Young briefly dated Billie Jean Jones before she became the second wife of country music superstar Hank Williams.

In 1972, Young was arrested and charged with assault for spanking a girl in the audience at a concert in Clarksburg, West Virginia, after claiming she spat on him.

When he refused to seek help for his drinking problem, Young and his wife Hilda separated, sold their home, and bought individual houses.

[citation needed] A combination of feeling he had been abandoned by country music and despondency over his deteriorating health were cited as possible reasons as to why Young shot himself on December 9, 1996, then died in Nashville the following day and was later cremated.

[7] In 2012, the UK-based Jasmine Records released a budget-minded 2-CD box set entitled Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young: The Early Album Collection.