Country singer-songwriter and actor William Edwin Bruce Jr. (Ed Bruce) has died in Tennessee, his publicist confirmed. He was 81.
A rendition of the hit song originally recorded by Bruce peaked the country music charts about three years later, spending four weeks at No. 1 after Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings cut the song on their 1978 duet album.
Bruce also earned a Grammy nomination that same year which nominated “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” as the best country music song of 1978.
The country star was born in Keiser, Arkansas on Dec. 29, 1939, and moved to Memphis in Tennessee where he also grew up. He was just 17 when he crossed paths with Sun Records recording engineer Jack Clement in 1957.
Sam Phillips, the owner of the Memphis-based independent record label, caught the attention of Bruce and the then young up and coming country legend ended up recording the single “Rock Boppin' Baby” for Sun Records under the name of “Edwin Bruce.”
In the early 1960s, Bruce continued to record for smaller record labels and it wasn’t until 1967 when he scored his first charted single with “Walker’s Woods” after returning to RCA Records—a U.S. label owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
In the years to come, he continued to score minor hits with songs like “Everybody Wants To Get To Heaven” and “Song For Jenny.” In 1974, he scored a major hit after writing “The Man That Turned My Mama On” for Tanya Tucker before finally reaching the top 20 country charts with “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” granting him a Grammy.
After news broke of Bruce’s passing, other country celebrities began sharing loving tributes and heartfelt condolences on social media.