{"id":1886970,"date":"2026-04-17T05:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886970"},"modified":"2026-04-17T05:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:37:49","slug":"don-schlitz-grammy-winning-composer-of-the-gambler-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886970","title":{"rendered":"Don Schlitz, Grammy-Winning Composer of \u2018The Gambler,\u2019 Dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tDon Schlitz, one of country music\u2019s all-time songwriting greats, a hitmaker who collected almost every possible accolade including two Grammy Awards, the first of those for \u201cThe Gambler,\u201d died Thursday (April 16) at a Nashville hospital following a sudden illness. He was 73.<\/p>\n

\n\tSchlitz achieved greatness with his first recorded song, \u201cThe Gambler,\u201d which he wrote at the age of 23. It went on to win the Grammy for best country song in 1978, and gave its performer Kenny Rogers a launchpad into the stars. It was a reporter who\u00a0informed Schlitz that the song had been nominated for the Country Music Association\u2019s song of the year, remarking that it would be the first line of his obituary. The song won, and the late songsmith will forever be remembered for it.<\/p>\n

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    \n\tToday, \u201cThe Gambler,\u201d a timeless tale of a card shark with sharp wits, is played everywhere that people party.<\/p>\n

    \n\tBorn and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Schlitz briefly attended Duke University before moving to Nashville at age 20. The story goes that he caught the bus to Music Row with just $80 in his pocket.\u00a0He knew how to play his cards right. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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    \n\tSchlitz was no one-hit wonder. He also crafted hits for Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss, his creations including \u201cOn the Other Hand,\u201d \u201cForever and Ever, Amen,\u201d \u201cHe Thinks He\u2019ll Keep Her,\u201d \u201cThe Greatest,\u201d and \u201cWhen You Say Nothing At All.\u201d \u00a0All \u201care touchstones and inspirations that continue to influence songwriters and singers decades after they were written,\u201d reads a statement from the Grand Ole Opry, which in 2022 inducted Schlitz as a member. \u201cHis words and music have articulated the extraordinary emotions inherent in common experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\tCommercial success was followed with a slew of lifetime achievement awards, and many more major honors from his peers. Schlitz was named ASCAP country songwriter of the year for four consecutive years, from 1988-91, and his collection includes a hattrick of CMA song of the year awards and a brace of ACM song of the year awards. He won a second Grammy in 1987, also in the category for best country song, with \u201cForever And Ever, Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\tInduction into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame came in 1993.\u00a0Then, in 2012, Schlitz was elevated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rogers was on hand that night to salute Schlitz. \u201cDon doesn\u2019t just write songs,\u201d the late superstar singer remarked, \u201che writes careers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n\tLater, Schlitz was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, at a the time when only five other songwriters were admitted: Bobby Braddock, Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.<\/p>\n

    Schlitz\u2019s Grand Ole Opry nod saw him become the only non-artist songwriter inducted into the show in its 100-year history. The prolific music man also wrote the music and lyrics for the 1999 Broadway musical \u201cThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n\tThe Grand Ole Opry performance this Saturday night (April 18) will be dedicated in Schlitz\u2019 honor. Other service plans are pending, reps say.<\/p>\n

    \n\tSchlitz is survived by his wife, Stacey; his daughter Cory Dixon and her husband Matt Dixon; his son Pete Schlitz and his wife Christian Webb Schlitz; his grandchildren Roman, Gia, Isla, and Lilah; his brother Brad Schlitz; and his sister Kathy Hinkley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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    [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/pro\/don-schlitz-obituary\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2201178248.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Don Schlitz, one of country music\u2019s all-time songwriting greats, a hitmaker who collected almost every possible accolade including two Grammy Awards, the first of those for \u201cThe Gambler,\u201d died Thursday (April 16) at a Nashville hospital following a sudden illness. He was 73. Schlitz achieved greatness with his first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1886970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1886970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1886970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1886970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1886970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}