b. 30 March 1942, Charleston, West Virginia, USA. The son of Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright, he appeared with his parents on The Louisiana Hayride at the age of eight, and three years later made his first recordings. After the family relocated to Nashville, he learned to play guitar but initially he had more interest in sports and drama. In 1962, he went to California and successfully auditioned for the role of a young guitar-playing southern boy in a proposed drama. The show did not materialize, but his performance won him the role of Willie the radio operator in a new comedy...