Photo: Tech. Sgt. Adam M. Stump, U.S. Air Force · Public domain · credits
Tier 3 · vertical & regional
Jimmy Fortune
Person · male · United States · Williamsburg · born 1955
American musician
Timeline
1 events◦ Birth 1
1950s
Biography
English biography339 words · 2 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1354488213
Biography
Lester James Fortune Sr. (born March 11, 1955) is an American country music singer from Nelson County, Virginia. Fortune sang tenor for The Statler Brothers for 21 years, and wrote the song "Elizabeth" for the group. When the Statler Brothers disbanded, he began to perform as a solo artist.
Fortune was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 as a member of The Statler Brothers.
Biography
Fortune grew up in Nelson County, Virginia, where he attended Nelson County High School in Lovingston, Virginia.
The original tenor of the Statler Brothers, Lew DeWitt, heard Fortune sing at a local ski resort. DeWitt suffered from Crohn's disease and asked Fortune to audition for the band. Fortune started performing with the Statlers in 1982, originally as a temporary replacement. He joined permanently when DeWitt left due to ill health.
Fortune wrote several number-one songs recorded by the Statler Brothers, including "Elizabeth", "Too Much on My Heart", and "My Only Love". "More Than a Name on a Wall" was a top-10 country hit. He spent 21 years touring, singing, and performing with the Statler Brothers.
After the Statlers disbanded in 2002, Fortune continued his career as a solo artist with an extensive performance schedule in the U.S. and Canada. He has continued as a songwriter and has recorded some projects in Nashville. In 2015, he released Hits & Hymns produced by Ben Isaacs. The album reached the Top Ten on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. The DVD release of a TV special, "Jimmy Fortune: Hits & Hymns," hosted by Bill Gaither, debuted at number one on the Billboard Music Video chart.
In 2020, Fortune joined Bradley Walker, Ben Isaacs, and Mike Rogers to form Brothers of the Heart. They have released three albums to date: Brotherly Love (2020), Listen To The Music (2023), and Will The Circle Be Unbroken (2023).
In 2023, a bronze statue of Fortune was unveiled in Nelson County, Virginia. Fortune attended the ceremony, where a statue of fellow Nelson County native Earl Hamner Jr. was also dedicated.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 5 | 32th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 1 | 40.6th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (0 release groups)
No discography rows stored yet
MusicBrainz enrichment for this artist is still pending. Release groups appear here once it runs.
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Jimmy Fortune head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 5 | 32th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 0 | 0th |
| Studio albums | 0 | 0th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 1 | 40.6th |
| Recording span (years) | — | no data |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
Line-up
| Name | From | To | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Statler Brothers(band) | — | present | tenor vocals |
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jimmy_Fortune%2C_2007_%28cropped%29.jpgcore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6200123genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6200123seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Fortunebiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Fortune
Why this artist is in the database
- List of country music performers
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Tech. Sgt. Adam M. Stump, U.S. Air Force · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q6200123 · MusicBrainz: 1bedb507-65c3-4ee7-b860-d543141208ed
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