View source for Mae Boren Axton

{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Mae Boren Axton
| image       = Mae Boren Axton.jpg
| alt         =
| caption     =
| birth_name  = Mae Boren
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1914|09|14|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bardwell, Texas]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1997|04|09|1914|09|14|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Hendersonville, Tennessee]], U.S.
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| other_names =
| known_for   = Co-writing "[[Heartbreak Hotel]]"
| occupation  = {{hlist|Music promoter|educator}}
}}
'''Mae Boren Axton''' (September 14, 1914 – April 9, 1997) was known in the music industry as the "Queen Mother of Nashville." She co-wrote the [[Elvis Presley]] hit single "[[Heartbreak Hotel]]"<ref name="Durden1">{{cite web | title=Thomas Durden | work=Obituaries | publisher=[[The Guardian]] | url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/oct/28/guardianobituaries2%20The%20Guardian:%20October%2028,%201999-Obituaries%20Thomas%20Durden | access-date=30 September 2011}}</ref> with [[Tommy Durden]]. She worked with [[Mel Tillis]], [[Reba McEntire]], [[Willie Nelson]], [[Eddy Arnold]], [[Tanya Tucker]], [[Johnny Tillotson]], and [[Blake Shelton]].
==Personal life==
Boren was born in Texas to Mark L. and Nannie Boren. The only daughter out of nine children, she was the sister of United States Congressman [[Lyle Boren]].<ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BO019.html Oklahoma Historical Society: Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture-AXTON, LYLE HAGLER] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105083521/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BO019.html |date=2009-01-05 }}</ref> When Boren was two years old the family moved to Oklahoma. She attended [[East Central University|East Central State College]] and the [[University of Oklahoma]], where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. She obtained a public [[Certified teacher#United States|teaching certificate]] and taught English and journalism at schools throughout Oklahoma.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AX002.html |title=Oklahoma Historical Society: Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture-AXTON, MAE BOREN |access-date=2008-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109231510/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AX002.html |archive-date=2009-11-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Boren married John T. Axton, an officer in the US Navy, and they had two sons: folk music singer-songwriter, guitarist, film and television actor [[Hoyt Axton]] and John, who became an attorney. The family lived in [[Comanche, Oklahoma]] during the children's pre-teen years. In 1949,  Axton  was stationed in [[Jacksonville, Florida]] and the family moved there. Boren taught English at Dupont High School, Paxon High School and Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://larrycohenproductions.com/N_Fla_Music.htm |title=Larry Cohen Productions: North Florida Music Hall of Fame-Axton, Mae |access-date=2008-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820124706/http://larrycohenproductions.com/N_Fla_Music.htm |archive-date=2017-08-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Music career==
By the early to mid-1950s, Mae had developed a number of connections in the music industry. The best-known of these was music executive, song publisher, and songwriter [[Fred Rose (songwriter)|Fred Rose]] (famous for his work with [[Hank Williams]]). She also became a songwriting partner with Jacksonville musicians [[Tommy Durden]] and [[Glenn Reeves]]. During this time, Boren also worked as a radio announcer and music promoter.
Boren is credited with writing approximately 200 songs.<ref name="A384"/> Artists who recorded her early compositions include [[Perry Como]] and [[Ernest Tubb]]. In 1983, Mae also discovered a young [[Tiffany Darwish]] singing country songs at the [[Palomino Club (North Hollywood)|Palomino Club]] in Los Angeles. Mae brought the singer to Nashville, and soon afterwards Tiffany would set a record for the youngest female artist to top the ''Billboard'' charts with a debut album. Since 1998, The Academy of Country Music (ACM) has presented the Mae Boren Axton Service Award to "an outstanding country music artist, duo/group or industry leader in recognition of years of dedication and service to the Academy of Country Music." Recipients include Paul Moore, Barry Adelman, Bob Kingsley, [[Reba McEntire]] and [[Keith Urban]].<ref name=Reba>{{cite web|title=Reba to receive ACM honors: Mae Boren Axton award|date=31 May 2017 |url=https://www.reba.com/news/2017/5/31/reba-to-receive-acm-honors-mae-boren-axton-award}}</ref>
==="Heartbreak Hotel"===
{{main|Heartbreak Hotel}}
In her autobiography, ''Country Singers as I Know 'Em'', Boren purported to be the link between [[Elvis Presley]] and [[RCA Victor]]. She introduced a 19-year-old Presley to [[Colonel Tom Parker]] after a performance in Jacksonville, FL. She worked on behalf of [[Bob Neal (promoter)|Bob Neal]] to promote Presley and pressured RCA Victor's Nashville division head [[Stephen H. Sholes]] to sign Presley. In 1955 Boren co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit-song "[[Heartbreak Hotel]]" with Tommy Durden.<ref name="A384">Axton, 384.</ref> Durden presented the idea to Mae Axton from a newspaper article he had read in which criminal and painter Alvin Krolik said, "This is the story of a person who walked a lonely street."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Boswell |first=Randy | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/solving-the-mystery-of-heartbreak-hotel| title=Solving the Mystery of 'Heartbreak Hotel'|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=July 15, 2016|access-date =July 16, 2016 |location=London}}</ref> It was Boren who suggested there be a Heartbreak Hotel at the end of the man's lonely street, thus creating Elvis' first #1 record and one of the greatest [[rock and roll]] hits.<ref name=DeMain>{{cite web|last=DeMain|first=Bill|title=Elvis' First #1 Hit: "Heartbreak Hotel"|date=10 January 2016 |url=http://performingsongwriter.com/heartbreak-hotel/|publisher=Performing Songwriter}}</ref>
==Death==
In 1997 at the age of 82, Mae drowned in her [[hot tub]] at her home in [[Hendersonville, Tennessee]], after an apparent heart attack.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cossar|first1=Neil|title=This Day in Music: An Everyday Record of 10,000 Musical Facts|date=2011|publisher=Omnibus Press|location=London|isbn=9781780381855|page=109}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Axton, Mae Boren. ''Country Singers as I Know 'Em''. Hurst: Sweet Publishing Co. (1973).
==External links==
*{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000811994}}
*{{discogs artist}}
*{{IMDb name|id=1505678}}
*[http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/mae_boren_axton.htm Mae Boren Axton] from Black Cat Rockabilly Europe
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-mae-boren-axton-1267292.html Obituary] from ''The Independent''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150503145155/http://www.library.okstate.edu/oralhistory/owhof/ Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame Oral History Project -- OSU Library]
{{Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Axton, Mae Boren}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ellis County, Texas]]
[[Category:American women country singers]]
[[Category:American country singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American music promoters]]
[[Category:20th-century American educators]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Writers from Jacksonville, Florida]]
[[Category:People from Comanche, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Texas]]
[[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]]
[[Category:Boren family]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:Educators from Texas]]
[[Category:20th-century American women educators]]
[[Category:Country musicians from Texas]]
[[Category:Country musicians from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Country musicians from Florida]]
[[Category:20th-century American women composers]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from Florida]]
[[Category:Deaths by drowning in the United States]]