The Milsap Fan Blog: Just Who Is Ronnie Milsap Anyway?

Anybody who grew up in the 70's and 80's has heard his name, and his music. His music is still being produced today. In fact, the 78 year old music legend just released a new album, "A Better Word For Love" on April 30th, 2021. The album teams Ronnie back up with his long time producer Rob Galbraith.

photo by Allyson Reeves

But who is the man behind this new album? For starters, Ronald Lee Milsap (nee Millsaps) was born in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, in a small town called Robbinsville, on January 16, 1943. He was born with congenital glaucoma which left him partially blind in his left eye and fully blind in the right. (An unfortunate incident at the age of 14 took what little sight he had.)

He was abandoned by his mother so was raised by his paternal grandparents and father until he turned six. At that point, he started attending the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina.

It was there that the future hitmaker discovered that he was a prodigy where music was concerned. He learned to play piano, guitar, violin, viola, cello and some woodwinds. He grew up in the age of the rise of rock and roll, so to the chagrin of his instructors at school, would play rock songs on the school's instruments. He was even booted from the music program because of his insistence on playing rock and roll and not the classical music he was trained in. Eventually though, the school staff relented and he formed his first band with some school mates. They called themselves The Apparitions.

After high school, the honor roll student was told he had an option to go to college and become something useful. What he REALLY wanted to do was music but he was warned that if he pursued it, he would end up a ward of the state. Ronnie selected pre-law and political science.

It was after he attended a concert for his idol Ray Charles, that he was backstage telling "The High Priest" about how much he wanted to pursue music. Ray encouraged him to play him a few songs and when he was done, Ray said, "son, you can become a lawyer if you want to, but you have a lot of music in your heart and if I were you, I'd do what's in my heart."

Ronnie with Ray Charles at the 25th CMA Awards in Washington D.C.

Right then and there, Ronnie decided to pursue music much to the horror of his counselors and social workers.

He recorded a minor hit on Scepter records, "Never Had It So Good" in 1965. He worked nightclubs around Atlanta, worked the King of the Road Hotel, worked with JJ Cale, and even worked as a session pianist and backup vocalist for none other than The King himself, Elvis Presley. Even with those great connections, he struggled to launch his music career the way he had hoped.

It was after a chance meeting with Charley Pride that the struggling young musician was encouraged to move his young family to Nashville to give country music a try. This is where his story turned around.

And that is when Ronnie Milsap became a household name that dominated the charts all through the 1970s and beyond. He recorded

"That Girl Who Waits on Tables" and "I Hate You" as his first country songs, but his career didn't take off until he released the Eddie Rabbitt penned tune "Pure Love".

His awards shelves at home are loaded down with Grammys, CMAs, ACMs, and other various awards and honors. He's got gold records, platinum records and even a double platinum record. He's a member of the Grand Ol Opry, where he most recently performed on May 1st, 2021 to a pandemic reduced crowd. He has 40 number 1 country hits. (Thirty five of those are for Billboard and the rest are for Cashbox and other charts.) Some of his songs have even been had success on charts for other genres, including rock and adult contemporary. He's had cameos on a soap opera, ("Another World") a made for TV movie, ("The Country Western Murders starring Sonny Bono) and recorded theme songs for a Clint Eastwood movie ("Cowboys and Clowns" for "Bronco Billy") as well as theme songs for at least three different TV shows. ("The Rousters", "JJ Starbuck" and "Uncle Buck".) He's had numerous appearances on all of the music themed shows you can imagine. ("Solid Gold", "Dolly", "The Porter Wagoner Show", "American Bandstand", "The Tonight Show", "Pop Goes The Country", "The Val Doonican Show" in the UK, and many others.) That is just the tip of the iceberg of everything he has accomplished.

Ronnie Milsap wasn't just a success in the United States. Anywhere you go in the world, you can purchase copies of his music. In my personal collection I have copies of his stuff from Canada, Mexico, The UK, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Thailand, Scandanavia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, Korea, and Russia!

Ronnie Milsap still tours. His first show in over a year was in Ft. Smith, Arkansas on April 10th, 2021. (He took a hiatus only because of the pandemic.) He has never let being completely blind inhibit him, which has also made him an inspiration to people everwhere. He is proof that you can pretty much do anything if you set your heart and mind on it.

The pandemic may have slowed his live shows down, but the hard-working legend took that time to go back into his studio and produce his latest album mentioned at the outset of this article.

There is much more I could write about Ronnie Milsap and his storied music career, but his legacy is his music. He prefers to sing songs that portray women in a positive light, with the recurring theme in most of his music being love, and tends to shun stereotypical country songs that promote drinking and cheating because he himself does not personally live his life that way.

Even though Ronnie Milsap is best known as a country artist, since that is the genre where he finally made a name for himself, his music actually fits in with multiple genres. About the only genre he has not tackled is rap. And as familiar as I am with Ronnie, I bet he'd record a rap song if it contained the upbeat, positive message that he wishes to convey. You never know! He's always looking for new songs to add to his already impressive repertoire. Does this mean that there will be albums beyond "A Better Word For Love"? I hope so.

So who is Ronnie Milsap? He's a man who has a deep passion for his music, so much so that he continues to bless everyone with his musical genius. And he does it with a smile.