Shelby Singleton Dies

Shelby Singleton, 77, country music producer, record company exec and promoter, died at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville Oct. 7.

Singleton, who produced Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA” and coached Roger Miller, Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed to success as the head of Mercury Record’s Smash imprint, left the company in 1967 to form Shelby Singleton Productions with $1,000.

Twenty months later, with the success of “Harper Valley PTA,” the company was worth $2 million, according to the Tennessean. He bought Sun Records in 1969.