May 9th: On this day

1914
Born on this day in Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia, was Hank Snow, (Clarence Eugene Snow), who scored more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980, including "I'm Moving On", "I Don't Hurt Anymore", and "Hello Love". He is a member of both the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and the Music Hall of Fame. Snow died on December 20, 1999.

1942
Born on this day in Hodgenville, Kentucky, was Bobby Lewis, country music singer-songwriter. Between 1963 and 1985, Lewis released ten albums and charted more than twenty-five songs on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. His biggest hit, "How Long Has It Been," peaked at #6 in 1966.

1950
Born on this day in Macon, Georgia was Country singer Randy Howard who was part of the Outlaw Country movement that spawned Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck and more. His released his debut album, Now and Then, in 1976. He was killed in a gunfight with a bounty hunter at the age of 65 on June 11 2015.

1968
Merle Haggard was at #1 on the Country charts with "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde". Written by Haggard and Bonnie Owens It was released as the first single and title track from the album The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde. The song was Haggard's fourth 1# and spent two weeks at #1 and a total of 14 weeks on the country chart.

1974
Merle Haggard had the #1 country single with "Things Aren't Funny Anymore", Haggard's seventeenth #1 on the country charts spent ten weeks on the country chart.

1983
Winners at the 18th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards hosted by Jerry Reed, John Schneider and Tammy Wynette included: Top Female Vocalist of the Year - Slyvia, Top Male Vocalist of the Year - Ronnie Milsap, Top Vocal Group - Alabama, Top New Female Vocalist of the Year - Karen Brooks, op Vocal Duet of the Year - David Frizzell and Shelly West and Album of the Year went to Willie Nelson for Always On My Mind.

1989
Keith Whitley, the country music singer who charted 19 singles on the Billboard country charts, including five consecutive #1's was found dead fully clothed face down on his bed. The cause of death was determined to be acute ethanolism (alcohol poisoning). At the time of his death, he had just finished work on his fourth and final studio album, I Wonder Do You Think of Me. The album was released three months after his death, and produced two more #1 hits, with the title track and "It Ain't Nothin'."

1997
Mindy McCready filed for bankruptcy after more than a year of attempting to get out of a contract with her first manager, which paid him 25% of her earnings.

2005
Kenny Chesney married actress Renee Zellweger in a ceremony on the island of St. John. They had met in January of this year at a tsunami relief benefit concert. On September 15 of that same year, after only four months of marriage, the couple announced their plans for an annulment.

2008
Members of Alabama sued their drummer Mark Herndon for $202,670 in money allegedly overpaid to him three years earlier after the band's farewell tour. Since 1982, Herndon had been a paid employee of Wild Country Inc. according to the court papers. In December 2002, a new contract was signed which provided that Herndon would be paid an annual salary of $100,000 and receive a 22.725 percent share of "net Live Performance revenue actually received by the group.

2009
Singer songwriter guitarist Stephen Bruton died of throat cancer in Los Angeles. He was a member of Kris Kristofferson's band for two decades, and co-produced the "Crazy Heart" soundtrack just before his passing.

2015
American country musician associated with Western swing Johnny Gimble died at his home in Dripping Springs, Texas. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 in the early influences category as a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.

2020
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Little Richard died of bone cancer in Nashville. A flamboyant rock and R&B pioneer in the 1950s, he saw two of his songs become hits for country stars: Billy "Crash" Craddock's cover of "Slippin' And Slidin'" and Waylon Jennings' version of "Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will)".

2020
Gwen Stefani made her Grand Ole Opry debut, performing "Nobody But You" with Blake Shelton from his home in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Dustin Lynch and Trace Adkins participate at the Grand Ole Opry House, playing to an empty auditorium in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.