Notable People
Meridian has produced many famous people in the arts and other areas. Jimmie Rodgers, the "Father of Country Music," was born in the city in 1897. The Jimmie Rodgers Museum is located in Meridian, and the Jimmie Rodgers Festival has been an annual Meridian event since 1953.
The guitarist-songwriter George Cummings, born in Meridian in 1938, was a founding member of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. David Ruffin, former lead singer of The Temptations, and his older brother Jimmy Ruffin were born in the surrounding area, Whynot and Collinsville respectively. Hayley Williams, lead singer of the band Paramore, was also born in the city in 1988. Paul Davis, a singer-songwriter best known for the late 1970s and early 1980s pop hits "I Go Crazy" and "'65 Love Affair," was born in Meridian in 1948; after retiring from the music business, he returned to the city where he remained until a fatal heart attack in 2008. George Soulé, the singer-songwriter most famous for the rhythm and blues anthem "Get Involved", is a resident of Meridian, where he was born in 1945. The singer-songwriter Steve Forbert was born in Meridian in 1954. The Island Def Jam rapper Big K.R.I.T. was born in Meridian.
Novelist Edwin Granberry, who won the 1932 O. Henry Award for Best Short Short Story, was born in Meridian. For 30 years, Granberry wrote the Buz Sawyer comic strip.
Alvin Childress, who played the lead role in the Amos 'n' Andy Show, was born in the city in 1907. Diane Ladd was also born in the city in 1932, and Sela Ward was born in 1956.
The city has also been home to several athletes, many of whom have competed at professional levels. Among them are Dennis Ray "Oil Can" Boyd, former Major League Baseball pitcher, Jay Powell, another pitcher, Negro league baseball catcher Paul Hardy, and Derrick McKey and George Wilson, both professional basketball players.
In politics, Meridian was home to Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. Representative, Winfield Dunn, former Governor of Tennessee, and John Fleming, current U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district. Meridian is also the hometown and birthplace to Mississippi state representative Greg Snowden.
Other notable natives of the city include Miss America 1986 Susan Akin, Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, James Chaney one of the victims of the Mississippi civil rights workers murders in 1964, Hartley Peavey, founder of Peavey Electronics which is headquartered in Meridian, and Fred and Al Key, holders of the world flight endurance record and the latter of which is a former mayor of the city. Singer Al Wilson, born in June 1939, was a Meridian native. One of the characters of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill Harris, is from Meridian, which is mentioned throughout when referencing Dill's home.
Read more about this topic: Meridian, Mississippi
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