Lee Hazelwood: 1929-2007
by Staff | 08.06.2007

Lee Hazlewood has died at the age of 78 after a three year struggle with renal cancer. A songwriter, singer, and producer for over 40 years, Hazlewood was most famous for writing Nancy Sinatra's 1966 hit "These Boots Are Made For Walking." The pair continued to work together for many years creating such hits as "Some Velvet Morning." Hazelwood was discovered by a new generation of fans after his solo albums were reissued by Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley in the '90s. Hazlewood's influence even extended to Phil Spector who visited his studio in the 1950's to study his taping techniques.

The son of an oil man, Hazlewood was born in Mannford, Oklahoma in 1929 and spent his teenage years in Port Neches, Texas. Hazlewood enrolled at SMU in Dallas, planning to study medicine but was drafted into the Army for the Korean War. Diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005, Hazlewood gave away his gold and platinum discs to friends outside the music industry and released his final album, Cake Or Death, in 2006. Hazlewood's family have asked that people wishing to honor his memory make donations to The Salvation Army.