Larry
Gatlin
Biography
Larry Gatlin sang for the Imperials for a very short season. After graduation in 1966, he was eligible to serve in the military during the Vietnam War; however, he did not. Instead he choose to attend the University of Houston as a wide receiver on the football team, where he caught a touchdown pass in a 1968 game in which his team, the Cougars, scored 100 points.
​
Larry auditioned for The Imperials and went on to perform in Las Vegas, Nevada and on January 1971 at Jimmy Dean's Las Vegas Revue, while walking through the showroom, he caught country singer Dottie West's attention, who thought he looked like Mickey Newbury. West soon met Gatlin and was impressed with his songwriting skills. She was so impressed, in fact, that she recorded two of Gatlin's compositions, "You're the Other Half of Me" and "Once You Were Mine". West also passed one of Gatlin's demonstration tapes around Nashville, Tennessee, and even arranged for him to relocate there, purchasing a plane ticket for him—a story he related on the 11/12/2009 episode of Larry's Country Diner on RFD-TV. West later recorded other compositions by Gatlin that would later become hits for him, including "Broken Lady", which was put on West's 1978 album, Dottie.
Solo Recording Discography
​