Gary Morris

Gary Gwyn Morris (born December 7, 1948) is an American country music artist who charted a string of countrypolitan-styled hit songs throughout the 1980s.

Morris is known for the 1983 ballad “The Wind Beneath My Wings”, although his credits include more than twenty-five other chart singles on the Billboard country charts, including five No. 1 hits. He has also released nine studio albums, with his 1983 album Why Baby Why having earned a gold certification from the RIAA.

Morris signed his recording contract with Warner Bros. in 1980. After a pair of minor hits landed just inside the top 40 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, he scored his breakthrough hit with “Headed for a Heartache”; that song reached No. 8 on the country chart in late 1981. Two follow-up singles also reached the top 15.

Morris’ 1983 album, Why Lady Why focused more on ballads. One of the album’s four singles was “Wind Beneath My Wings,” which showcased Morris’ soaring tenor. Written by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, the song about heroes — which Morris recorded as a ballad — became one of the earliest hit versions of the song; a better-known version by Bette Midler would top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989. The Why Lady Why album also featured the ballad “The Love She Found in Me,” the mid-tempoed “Velvet Chains” and the up-tempoed title track as singles; all of them peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Also during this time, Morris recorded a duet with Lynn Anderson called “You’re Welcome to Tonight,” which became a top 10 hit.

After two more top 10 hits in 1984 — “Between Two Fires” and “Second Hand Heart” — Morris scored his first No. 1 country hit in March 1985 with “Baby Bye Bye.” During what was his most prolific hitmaking part of his career, Morris had three more solo No. 1 hits during the next two years: “I’ll Never Stop Loving You,” “100% Chance of Rain” and “Leave Me Lonely.” He also recorded a chart-topping duet with Crystal Gayle, “Makin’ Up For Lost Time (The Dallas Lovers Song).” Although he rarely saw any success outside country music, many of Morris’ hit songs were in the pop-country vein during the height of his career.

Morris had two more hits in 1987: the solo “Plain Brown Wrapper” and another duet with Gayle called “Another World.” The latter song was used for many years as the theme for the NBC soap opera. After that, Morris’ success on the country charts began to fade, as tastes switched once again to neo-traditional country music. Morris later opened a music publishing office in Nashville, with one of his employees being future star Faith Hill.