Chart Rewind: In 1986, Conway Twitty Turned Desperation Into a Country No. 1

Conway Twitty started his music career as a pop hitmaker on the all-format Billboard Hot 100 — his “It’s Only Make Believe” topped the chart in November 1958 — before he found his full voice in country, and the last of his 40 chart-topping titles in the genre came from a songwriter who made a similar format change.

North Carolina-born Sammy Johns earned national recognition when his recording of “Chevy Van” parked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in 1975, but he followed that by writing his way into the country market. With “Desperado Love,” co-written by Michael, Johns transformed a negative life period into a win. He was about to lose his house, started drinking to numb his depression, then decided to see if there was a song in all of his misery. He felt desperation, brainstormed that into desperado and took off from there.

Twitty recorded the resulting melodic midtempo with co-producers Dee Henry, whom he would marry in 1987, and Ron Treat, and enlisted Vince Gill as a backing vocalist. Released as the first single from Twitty’s Warner Bros. album Fallin’ for You for Years, “Desperado Love” rode onto Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated June 7, 1986, and stole the No. 1 ranking three months later, that Sept. 6.

In the process, Twitty set a precedent, becoming the first artist to land 40 No. 1s on Hot Country Songs. To date, he’s outpaced only by George Strait, with 44.

Meanwhile, although “Desperado Love” marked Twitty’s last Hot Country Songs No. 1, his next eight singles all reached the top 10, including three No. 2 hits in 1987: “Fallin for You for Years,” “Julia” and “I Want To Know You Before We Make Love.” He last appeared in the region in 1991 with “I Couldn’t See You Leavin’.”

Born in Mississippi as Harold Jenkins, Twitty died in June 1993 at age 59. He joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 alongside Johnny Bond and Dolly Parton.