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Henson Cargill (February 5, 1941 – March 24, 2007) was an American country music singer best known for the 1968 No. 1 hit, "Skip a Rope". His music career began in Oklahoma in clubs around Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He earned national recognition after getting a Nashville producer to agree to produce "Skip a Rope".
Cargill had a number of Top 20 hits including "Row Row Row" (1968), "None Of My Business", and "The Most Uncomplicated Goodbye I Ever Heard" (1970). Later hits included "Some Old California Memory" and "Silence on the Line". He also had a television show and performed for many years in Reno and Las Vegas.
Cargill was born on February 5, 1941 in Oklahoma. His family was active in politics and raised buffalo on a ranch outside Oklahoma City. His grandfather, O. A. Cargill served on the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Marrying his high school sweetheart, Marta, he took her to Fort Collins, Colorado in the early 1960s. He studied pre-law, but decided it was not his calling and returned to Oklahoma City. He served as a deputy sheriff for some time.
Cargill began his music career playing in clubs in and around Oklahoma City and Tulsa. While working the late shift as a deputy sheriff, Cargill received a visit from his friend and fellow musician Johnny Johnson, who told him of a seasoned and professional vocal group he had been recording with. Henson began recording locally at the Sully Studios with the Kimberleys as backup. They began to tour together all over the west.
In the mid 1960s, Henson went to Nashville and was fortunate to have Don Law agree to produce "Skip A Rope". Henson released his album on the Monument Label and immediately scored in a big way with this first release. The song became a huge hit, spending five weeks at No. 1 on the country charts in 1968 and also making the Top 25 on the Pop charts. This generated much media attention and he was in demand on such TV programs as The Mike Douglas Show to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
After "Skip a Rope", Cargill continued to have Top 20 hits with such songs as "Row Row Row" (1968), "None Of My Business" (his only other Top 10) (1969), and "The Most Uncomplicated Goodbye I Ever Heard" (1970). He hosted a television show, Country Hayride, beginning in 1962 and performed for many years in Reno and Las Vegas. Johnny Cash was godfather to his oldest son, Cash.
After leaving Monument Records, Henson moved to Mega Records in 1971, where he scored several minor hits.
In 1973, he made a strong comeback to the charts when he signed with Atlantic Records and scored 2 Top 30 hits in 1974 with "Some Old California Memory" and a version of Mac Davis' hit song "Stop and Smell the Roses". In 1980, he formed his own record label Copper Mountain Records and he scored his last Top 30 hit that year with "Silence On The Line".
In the late 1980s he retired to Oklahoma City, where he wed Sharon Simms on September 8, 1988, and died on March 24, 2007, aged 66, during surgery.
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