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Over the past 30 years, a veritable Who's Who of renowned country music singers have crooned the tunes written or co-written by one-time Chesapeake resident Donny Kees.
That litany of singing talent includes George Jones, Kenny Chesney, David Kersh, Sammy Kershaw, Neal McCoy, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Milsap, Lorrie Morgan, Eddie Raven, Johnny Rodriguez, George Strait, Aaron Tippin, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Conway Twitty, Ricky Van Shelton, Brian White, Lee Ann Womack, Tammy Wynette, Diamond Rio and Joe Nichols.
Most recently, Diamond Rio and Nichols both scored chart-topping hits with Kees-penned numbers "I Believe" and "Brokenheartsville," respectively.
Recently, Kees shared with Kanawha East memories of his youth growing up in the Upper Kanawha Valley, playing his first gig in Chesapeake and attending East Bank High School in the 1960s.
Kees was born in the small mining town of Carbondale and moved with his family to Chesapeake, where valuable life lessons were learned early, he said.
"I grew up in Chesapeake in the late Fifties and Sixties," Kees said. "It was a small-town atmosphere which, at the time, was about all I knew. Back then, it was an integrated community already. Even with all the racial violence and tension of the '60s in the deep South, I never saw much of anything in Chesapeake to give anyone the sense that there was any racial troubles at all. We all played basketball, football and baseball together.
"It was only after I left Chesapeake that I started realizing there was tension in other parts of the country that were deep-rooted.
"My dad, Pete, was a musician and a singer. He taught me most of what I know now about songs and music. He had the 'soul' of a true blues singer and musician. We were listening to blues at my house from my earliest memories. I cut my musical teeth on R&B and blues. I actually hated the pop music of the Sixties. I have since learned to like some of it for its simplicity and creativity."
Kees attributes his career course and passion for music specifically to...