Wayne Walker
Musician · 1925–1979 · Quapaw, Oklahoma
Best known for
Songwriter
Wayne Walker was a prolific Nashville country songwriter whose 526-title BMI catalog placed cuts with Andy Williams, Webb Pierce, Patsy Cline, Jack Greene, Kitty Wells, Carl Smith, and Jimmy Dean. “All the Time,” cut first by Kitty Wells and taken to No. 1 by Jack Greene in 1967, was named Billboard’s Country Song of the Year.
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- Born Wayne Paul Walker on December 13, 1925, in Quapaw, Oklahoma; raised in Kilgore, Texas, before settling in Shreveport, Louisiana.
- Worked sales jobs — vacuum cleaners, fire escapes, cars, roofing — while trying to break into music.
- Befriended Webb Pierce and Tillman Franks during his Louisiana Hayride years; they urged him to focus on writing.
- Wrote “Are You Sincere,” a 1958 No. 3 pop hit for Andy Williams.
- Wrote “Fallen Angel” for Webb Pierce, “Why Why” for Carl Smith, “Leavin’ on Your Mind” for Patsy Cline, and “The Cajun Queen” for Jimmy Dean.
- “All the Time,” first cut by Kitty Wells in 1959, became his only personal No. 1 country hit when Jack Greene took it to the top of the chart in 1967; the Greene recording earned Billboard’s Country Song of the Year nod.
- Won 23 BMI awards over the course of his career.
- Died January 2, 1979.
