Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

Sam Neely

American singer-songwriter (1948-2006)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Sam Neely (August 22, 1948, July 19, 2006) was an American country and folk music musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and performer.

Born in Cuero, Texas, Neely began playing guitar at age ten. After moving with his family to Corpus Christi, Texas, he began playing in bands, including local group, Buckle. He made an appearance on the Merv Griffin Show in 1968 and was asked to write a song for the film, Tilt; though the movie was not released until 1978, it did include Neely's track, "Long Road to Texas".

Neely scored a string of minor hits in the 1970s on the country and pop charts and released a few albums which saw sales success. In 1978, he moved back to Corpus Christi and became the house musician for the Electric Eel. In 1983, he made a comeback on MCA Records.

On July 19, 2006, Neely collapsed and died while mowing his lawn at his home in Corpus Christi. He was 57. A funeral mass was held at St. Patrick Catholic parish in Corpus Christi on July 23, 2006.

01Select discography

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions
US
1971 Long Road to Texas ,
1972 Loving You Just Crossed My Mind 147
1973 Two 175
1974 Down Home 202
1981 Two of a Kind ,
2000 Son of the South ,
2002 Sam Neely ,

Singles

Year Song Peak chart
positions
US Country US
1972 "Loving You Just Crossed My Mind" , 29
1973 "Rosalie" , 43
1974 "Sadie Take a Lover" , 103
"You Can Have Her" 49 34
1975 "Sanctuary (promo)" , ,
1975 "I Fought the Law" 61 54
1977 "Sail Away" 98 84
1983 "The Party's Over (Everybody's Gone)" 78 ,
"When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back" 77 ,
1984 "Old Photographs" 81 ,
Watch videos about Sam NeelyExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Sam Neely, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.