Con Hunley 

 (Singer, Songwriter, Piano)

• Given Name: Conrad Logan Hunley
  
• Date of Birth: April 9, 1945
• Place of Birth: Fountain City, Tennessee

Con Hunley was raised near the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee in a religious environment and his early musical training was singing gospel music in church. Con’s first idol was Chet Atkins, but because of his limitations on guitar, he soon switched to piano and taught himself to play by ear. Ray Charles was the biggest influence on his career and style, but Con also studied the techniques of Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Con began playing in local groups while still in high school and in 1963 made his professional debut in a local nightclub for $12.00 a night. In 1965, he began a four-year stint in the Air Force, but he continued to play music, sitting in with local musicians wherever he could. After his discharge in 1969, he took a job singing at a lounge in Los Angeles, but soon returned to Knoxville, where he went to work in a knitting mill, as well as singing in a local lounge. His first singles were released in 1977 on Prairie Dust Records, founded by Sam Kirkpatrick, a Knoxville stockbroker. Kirkpatrick took Con to Nashville for a session which produced five singles which made it to the Country charts. Con signed with Warner Brothers and in 1978 began a string of charted releases that lasted until Con moved over to MCA in 1982.