Bob Ferguson
Musician · 1927–2001 · Willow Springs, Missouri
Best known for
Songwriter
Bob Ferguson was a Missouri Ozarks-born country songwriter, RCA-Nashville producer, and trained anthropologist whose 1958 song “On the Wings of a Dove” became Ferlin Husky’s 1960 No. 1 country single and an enduring gospel-country standard. As Chet Atkins’s right hand at RCA Nashville, he helped shape the Nashville Sound from inside the producer’s chair.
Assisted by AI.
Spot something off? Help us fix it.
- Born Robert Bruce Ferguson on December 30, 1927, in Willow Springs in the Missouri Ozarks.
- Worked in high school as a typesetter for the local newspaper and as a U.S. Forest Service fire-tower lookout.
- Wrote “On the Wings of a Dove” in 1958; Ferlin Husky’s 1960 recording spent ten nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 country and nine months on the chart, becoming Husky’s third and final country No. 1.
- Wrote “The Carroll County Accident,” a 1968 No. 2 country hit for Porter Wagoner.
- Served as a senior producer with RCA Victor’s Nashville division through the 1960s and 1970s; was Chet Atkins’s executive assistant until his retirement.
- Earned a doctorate in anthropology and lectured on Choctaw culture in his later years.
- “On the Wings of a Dove” received BMI’s One Million Airplays Award in 1987.
- Died July 22, 2001, at age 73.
