Who was CW McCall, country singer dead at 93?

C.W. McCall, the country singer known for 1975 #1 hit “Convoy,” died Friday at the age of 93, his son Bill Fries III announced the tragic news.

According to Bill Fries III, his father had been battling cancer and was in hospice care in his Colorado home at the time of his death. 

McCall’s real name was Bill Fries and he was an ad executive turned singer.

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“Convoy” was McCall’s biggest hit, though, hitting No. 1 in January 1976 and inspiring a 1978 movie starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine.

In 1976, McCall wrote a sequel, “‘Round the World with the Rubber Duck,” where the trucking convoy travels around the world through Britain, France, West and East Germany, the USSR, Japan, and Australia.

The RIAA awarded this song a gold disc in December 1975, presumably because it had sold over 2 million copies. 

A dozen McCall songs debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles list, while several of his other tracks, such as “Wolf Creek Pass,” made No. 40 on the US pop top 40 in 1975.

His democratic song “Kidnap America” was released in 1980 amid the Iran hostage crisis. His other soundtrack, “Pine Tar Wars,” portrayed an event that actually occurred in the New York Yankees’ Kansas City Royals.

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“I’m battling cancer,” McCall said while speaking on phone to the Drew & Mike Show podcast. “We have a deal here now where I can have nurses on-call at home. I don’t have to go to hospitals. It’s a hospice service here locally from Montrose, Colo.”

After stepping away from music, McCall served as mayor of Ouray, Colo., from 1986-1992.

McCall is survived by his wife of 70 years, Rena Bonnema Fries. The pair have three children, Bill, Mark, and Nancy. He also has four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson, according to Taste of Country.