(b. Woodrow Wilson Sovine, 17 July 1918, Charleston, West Virginia,  d. 4 April 1980)

Sovine acquired the nickname of The Old Syrup Sopper following the sponsorship by Johnny Fair Syrup of some radio shows, and the title is apt for such narrations as Daddy’s Girl.   From 1954 Sovine was a regular at GRAND OLE OPRY and, in all, he had 31 US country chart entries. He particularly scored with maudlin narrations about truckdrivers and his successes include Giddyup Go (a US country number 1 about a truck driver being reunited with his son), Phantom 309 (a truck-driving ghost story!) and his million-selling saga of a crippled boy and his CB radio, Teddy Bear (1976). Sequels and parodies of Teddy Bear abound, Sovine refused to record Teddy Bear’s Last Ride, which became a US country hit for Diana Williams. He retaliated with Little Joe to indicate that
Teddy Bear was not dead after all. In 1980 Sovine died of a heart attack at the wheel of his car in Nashville.