PAYNE, LEON ROGER (1917-1969). Leon Roger Payne, country and western singer and composer, was born on June 15, 1917, in Alba, Texas, the son of Jesse and Gertrude (Murdock) Payne. He was blind in one eye at birth and lost the sight of the other in a childhood accident. He attended the Texas School for the Blindqv from May 17, 1922, until his graduation, on May 31, 1935.
Payne's singing and composing career began at a radio station in Palestine, Texas. He played the guitar and several other stringed instruments, and he sang, according to some critics "in the soft, smooth style of Eddie Arnold."
On August 16, 1948, he married Myrtie Velma Courmier, whom he met at the Texas School for the Blind. They had two children and reared two other children born to Velma in a previous marriage. In 1948, also, Payne's composition "Lifetime to Regret" established his reputation as a composer, and in 1949 he composed "I Love You Because" (a song inspired by his wife), which became a top hit and a standard in country and western music. His "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" was first recorded in 1951, but its greatest success came in the 1960s, when Dean Martin and many others recorded it. Payne made many appearances on both the "Louisiana Hayride" in Shreveport and the "Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville, Tennessee. Other well-known singers who recorded Payne's songs were Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Glen Campbell, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves,qv and George Jones. Jones recorded an album of Payne's songs in 1971. Leon Payne died on September 11, 1969, in San Antonio and was buried in Sunset Memorial Park there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bill C. Malone, Country Music U.S.A. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Eldon S. Branda
