Rocky Burnette

Born in Memphis, TN, in 1953, Rocky Burnette comes from country music royalty--his father is the legendary Johnny Burnette, his uncle is Dorsey Burnette and his cousin is Billy Burnette. His first album, "Son of Rock 'n' Roll", came out in 1979, and the next year he had his biggest hit--the raucous, high-energy "Tired of Toein' the Line", on EMI Records, which quickly shot to the Top 10 in the US and was especially popular in Europe. Unfortunately his second album, "Heart Stopper", didn't do as well as its predecessor in the US--although it was a considerable hit in Europe--and in 1981 he embarked on a very successful European tour. His next album, "Get Hot or Go Home" on Enigma Records, didn't meet with much success, either, and Enigma dropped him. In the mid-'90s Burnette's career took an upturn and he began working with such established artists as Dwight Twilley and provided vocals and an original song for Paul Burlison's "Trouble Is I'm In Love with You" album.

In 1996 Burnette came out with another album, "Tear It Up", on Core Records. In yet one more stroke of bad luck, the label went bankrupt almost immediately after issuing the album. While his album sales may not have turned out quite the way he wanted, his international tours were always extremely successful and he also kept busy writing songs for other artists, such as the 1997 Percy Sledge hit "You Got Away with Love".