NEW YORK — Don Schlitz, the storied nation music songwriter recognized for such hits as “The Gambler,” “On the Different Hand” and “Eternally and Ever, Amen,” died Thursday at a Nashville hospital. He was 73.
The reason for demise was not instantly recognized. A press launch from the Grand Ole Opry described it as a sudden sickness.
The 2-time Grammy Award winner was inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame and the Nation Music Corridor of Fame. “I’ll by no means have the ability to imagine that I deserve this, until I obtain it as a consultant of my household, my mentors, my collaborators, my promoters and my associates,” Schlitz mentioned in 2017, when he realized of the Nation Music Corridor of Fame honor. “That is the one means I can cope with this.”
Songwriter Don Schlitz seems on the Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame inductions in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 7, 2012.
AP Picture/Mark Humphrey, File
Schlitz made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2017 and was later inducted in 2022. He’s the one non-artist to obtain the distinction within the Opry’s 100 years. The historic venue’s Saturday evening present might be devoted in his honor.
He was named ASCAP Nation Songwriter of the 12 months for 4 consecutive years, from 1988 by way of 1991. He additionally wrote music and lyrics for “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” the 1999 Broadway musical.
Schlitz’s songs are extensively thought-about a number of the most unwavering in nation music, and have been recorded by such hitmakers as Kenny Rogers (“The Gambler,” “The Best”), Randy Travis (“On the Different Hand,” “Eternally and Ever, Amen”), The Judds (“I Know The place I am Going”), The Nitty Gritty Dust Band (“I Love Solely You,”) Tanya Tucker (“I Will not Take Much less Than Your Love,”) Mary Chapin Carpenter (“He Thinks He’ll Hold Her”) and lots of others.
He additionally wrote “You Cannot Make Previous Associates” for Rogers and Dolly Parton; their first duet since 1983’s “Islands within the Stream.”
Schlitz, a North Carolina native, was born in 1952 and raised in Durham earlier than packing his baggage and heading to Nashville. His first recorded tune, “The Gambler,” is probably his most enduring hit and the tent-pole of his legacy. The tune, which was recorded by Rogers in 1978 and authorized 5 occasions platinum by the Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA), opened doorways for nation music within the ’70s, a monitor that was not solely an enormous style hit but additionally a pop crossover one.
As Rogers mentioned when he inducted Schlitz into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2012, “Don would not simply write songs. He writes careers.”
“We’re heartbroken by the information of the passing of Don Schlitz. Don liked his household, his dwelling state of North Carolina, and above all, songs and songwriters. He carried that love into each room, each stage and each lyric he ever wrote,” Sarah Trahern, Nation Music Affiliation CEO, wrote in an announcement Friday. “Not way back, we shared a dinner, and as we had been leaving, Don picked up a guitar and started to play. That’s how I’ll at all times keep in mind him, smiling and with a guitar in his hand. His legacy lives on by way of his music and the numerous artists and writers he impressed. He might be deeply missed.”
“Don Schlitz’s place as a songwriting nice could be safe had he by no means written ‘The Gambler’ or had he solely written ‘The Gambler,'” Kyle Younger, CEO of the Nation Music Corridor of Fame and Museum, wrote in an announcement Friday. “Nashville was richer for his presence and is lesser for his absence.”
Schlitz is survived by his spouse Stacey, daughter Cory Dixon and her husband Matt Dixon, son Pete Schlitz and his spouse Christian Webb Schlitz, grandchildren Roman, Gia, Isla and Lilah, brother Brad Schlitz and sister Kathy Hinkley.
Copyright © 2026 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.
