Hoyt Axton Biography

Fast Facts

• He was posthumously inducted into the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007
• He wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" for rock 'n' roll singer Elvis Presley, which became his first major hit and topped the Billboard's Top 100 chart for seven weeks
• After serving in the Navy, he became a folk singer at nightclubs in San Francisco, releasing his first album in the early 1960s
• Quote: "I started writing songs when I was 15․ All I ever wanted to be was a songwriter․․․When somebody likes your stuff enough to want to record it when they have access to, God knows, millions of songs it's great․ The closest you can get to God or the way I do, anyway is when you're writing a song and it's right․"
• He wrote "Joy to the World" for Three Dog Night, which was No․ 1 on the charts for six straight weeks and became the top hit of the year
• He attended Oklahoma State University for a few years before enlisting in the Navy
• He struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, during which he wrote many of his popular songs that chronicled his problems, including "The Pusher," "Snowblind Friend," and "No-No Song․"