NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The Grand Ole Opry lost one of its most unique members with the Sept. 19 passing of Skeeter Davis.
Best-known for the hit "The End of the World," the artist had been battling breast cancer.
Davis, 72, was born Mary Frances Penick in Dry Ridge, Ky. She first rose to prominence in the early 1950s, performing with high-school friend Betty Jack Davis as the Davis Sisters.
The duo broke through with the 1953 RCA hit "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know," but its success was short-lived. In August that year, the two were in an auto accident that killed Betty Jack and left Skeeter injured.
Betty Jack's sister, Georgia, teamed with Davis, and they performed together until 1956. Then Davis embarked on a solo career and, in 1959, became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. That same year she earned the first of her five Grammy Award nominations, for "Set Him Free."
But it was in 1962 that Davis scored a huge crossover hit with the poignant ballad "The End of the World." The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard country singles chart, holding that spot for three weeks. But it claimed the top spot on the Billboard AC chart, No. 2 on The Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the R&B chart, making it one of the first multiformat hits spawned by the more polished, string-laden arrangements known as the Nashville Sound.
Picked by E-Brake.