Red Tuck

Red Tuck was born September 7, 1929, in Keo, Arkansas. His first notable public music performances were with the USO while with the Army in the mid-1950s. In the early 1960s, he began appearing with Marvin Rainwater, whose label Brave Records (5) featured several releases with Tuck as a songwriter, featured vocalist, or both. The two appear to have worked together on many occasions between 1964 and 1984. By 1967, Tuck had relocated to Streator, Illinois, playing local clubs with groups billed as Red Tuck & The Curios, Red Tuck & The Hobos, and The Red Tuck Show, as well as with other local artists such as Mack Byrd, [a1562418], and vocalist/drummer Alfonzo "Al" Martin. Tuck's greatest success as a songwriter may have been "Laugh the Years Away," which appeared on the 1973 album Love And Music. Newspaper articles sometimes reported that he had written songs for Johnny Cash and Mel Tillis, but without indicating any song titles related to those artists. Tuck continued performing at Streator-area clubs into 1996, at which time he retired from performing regularly after being discouraged by the rising influence of karaoke. Howard "Red" Tuck died October 18, 2010, in Streator, Illinois, after a battle with cancer.