Country Pop Bites: Keith Whitley – December 24

Did you know that on this day in Country Music History in 1988 Keith Whitley checked in at #1 on the Billboard country chart?

It's true! It was with "When You Say Nothing At All!" Check out the video!

Here are 5 interesting facts about Keith Whitley.

• He was born Jackie Keith Whitley on July 1, 1954 in Ashland, Kentucky. He grew up 46 miles away in Sandy Hook, and attended Sandy Hook High School.
• As teenagers, Whitley and his friends would pass the time drinking bootleg bourbon and racing their cars down mountain roads at dangerous speeds. Whitley was once in a car whose driver attempted to round a curve at 120 mph. The car wrecked, killing his friend and almost breaking Whitley’s neck.
• He had a serious addiction to alcohol. It’s been said that his wife, singer Lorrie Morgan, tried to conceal all alcoholic beverages from him, even going as far as binding their legs together before going to bed so as to make it impossible for him to wake up in the middle of the night to consume a drink without her knowledge – only to discover that he would drink things such as perfume and nail polish remover to get intoxicated.
• He was discovered dead by his brother-in-law, Lane Palmer on May 9, 1989.
• It has long been speculated that Whitley’s death may not have been directly caused by his recklessness or alcoholism, but that he may have been a victim of premeditated misconduct. In 2009, forensic pathologist and then-chief medical examiner Charles W. Harlan stood trial for several cases of forensic fraud which led to the misdiagnoses of several deceased patients, and possibly the conviction of innocent people under suspicion of murder. Subsequently, the man who originally laid claim that Whitley’s death was solely by alcohol poisoning has been relieved of his license to practice pathology. Whitley’s death certificate and autopsy results had once been sealed from public access, but have since been made public record.