biography

Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Son On Fame, Family, and the Price of Success

Bill Thompson

In the mid-1950s a former country music disc jockey from Pasadena seemed to be everywhere.

Tennessee Ernie, he called himself on the radio. Ernie Ford not only had a hit record but guest appearances on “I Love Lucy” propelled him into a TV show of his own.

An album of Christian hymns put Tennessee Ernie Ford on Billboard’s chart for over five years.

At home, watching all of this unfold, was Ford’s son, Jeffrey Buckner Ford, often known simply as Buck.

Buck and his little brother saw the good times, and the rough times, as the double-edged sword of success impacted the family.

Both Ernie and wife Betty grappled with substance abuse, and Betty Ford took her own life in 1989. Ernie Ford died 2 years later.

In 2008 Jeffrey Buckner Ford wrote a critically acclaimed book about his parents, called River of No Return. He and I met 1 day that spring at our local Borders bookstore to talk about it.

So here now, from 2008, Jeffrey Buckner Ford.

Tennessee Ernie Ford died in 1991 at age 72. His son Buck Ford is now 75.

Kitty Kelley

Bill Thompson

Journalist and celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley first rose to prominence in 1978, with her biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a book called Jackie Oh!

Photo: RaymondBoyd51

But it was her 1986 biography of the legendary Frank Sinatra that make kitty Kelley a household name.

Kelley is a meticulous and very thorough biographer, and in researching Sinatra’s life, she uncovered a lot of things he didn’t want uncovered.

Her book was an instant best-seller, but it also got her sued by Sinatra, and it got her attacked by his powerful friends, including talk show host Larry King, who fancied himself a clothes Sinatra friend, and when Kitty Kelley appeared on King’s late night radio show the night before my interview with her, King rake her over the coals.

When I interviewed her the next day, she seemed largely unscathed by the king interview.

So here now, from 1986, Kitty Kelley.

Kitty Kelley is 78 now. Her last book was published in 2012.

Laura Joplin

Bill Thompson
Photo: Elliot Landy

It’s been almost 50 years since the tragically untimely death of Janis Joplin, whose rock, soul and blues set the standard for a whole generation of musicians who followed.

About 30 years ago, I met Janis’s younger sister Laura Joplin, who had just published a biography of Janis, based largely on a cache of letters her sister wrote, back in the day.

As she told me in this interview, it became a project she needed to do.

Here now, from 1992, Laura Joplin:

Had she lived, Janis Joplin would be 77 now. And, no doubt, still setting the standard.