Harold Reid, member of the Statler Brothers, dies at 80 after battling kidney failure

Country Music Hall of Famer Harold Reid, founding member of the Statler Brothers, died at his home Friday evening.

His death was confirmed by his nephew Langdon Reid, the son of Statler Don Reid. A post on the Statler Brothers website said Reid had "bravely endured a long battle with kidney failure."

Reid's songwriting, humor and striking bass vocals were integral elements of the well-loved and respected Statler Brothers, who put out more than 50 albums in nearly 40 years. The bandmates were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

"Harold Reid was a driving force in one of country music’s greatest quartets," said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

"He was also a tremendous entertainer, and one of the world’s funniest people. For decades, he made us laugh and made us cry. As his alter ego, Lester 'Roadhog' Moran, would say, his contributions were 'mighty fine.' We mourn his loss while we celebrate a life well-lived," Young said.

His path to stardom began in earnest in 1964 when the Statler Brothers, comprised at the time of Reid, his brother Don Reid, Lew DeWitt and Phil Balsley, got word from a friend and promoter that Johnny Cash was in Roanoke doing a concert. The group drove down to see the future country music legend.

After meeting Cash, he told them he was headed to Berryville in a couple of days and asked if the Statler Brothers would be interested in opening his show, which they did. Cash had never even heard them play.

More: Harold Reid was driving force behind Statler Brothers

A record deal with Columbia records soon followed, thanks to a push from Cash, who also was under contract by the label. But it wasn’t until the group put out their third single, “The Ballad of Billy Christian,” that superstardom would come knocking at their door. The record didn’t excite the masses, but when a Kansas City disc jockey flipped the single over to the B-side and played “Flowers on the Wall,” it quickly became the Statler Brothers first smash hit, earning two Grammy Awards.

"That happened six months after the record was released, which is almost unheard of," Harold Reid told The (Staunton, Va.) News Leader in 2015.

Thirty years later in 1994, the same song would again explode onto the music scene, thanks to a scene in the Quentin Tarantino hit film “Pulp Fiction,” where Butch Coolidge, played by Bruce Willis, is listening to the classic song on his car radio when he decides to run over his nemesis. The "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack sold over a million copies.

"Very few people have Bruce Willis help them," Harold Reid said in 2015.

The hit song was one of many in a career portfolio that is matched by few groups. Thirteen of the Statler Brother albums went gold and eight went platinum. They recorded more than 50 albums and garnered three Grammy Awards, nine Country Music Awards and 48 Music City News Awards.

The Statler Brothers even had a hit cable television show in the 1990s. During the seven seasons "The Statler Brothers Show" aired, it was The Nashville Network's (TNN) top-rated program.

PHOTOS: The Statler Brothers family in pictures

In 1996, after 30 years on the music scene, a national Harris Poll ranked America's favorite singers. The Statler Brothers finished second only to Frank Sinatra, according to the Associated Press, besting The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Garth Brooks, to name a few.

Jimmy Fortune joined the group in the early 1980s after replacing DeWitt, who became ill and could no longer perform on a regular basis. DeWitt died in 1990.

Don Reid and the Statler Brothers also put on legendary July 4th concerts in Staunton. Beginning in 1970, for 25 years their "Happy Birthday U.S.A." concerts in Gypsy Hill Park were a must-see event, and grew so big that estimates eventually placed crowd attendance figures near 100,000 people.

More: Statler Brothers' top 10 tunes

They always ended with fireworks. About 10:30 p.m. Friday, fountains of fireworks lit the sky near Harold Reid's home, Boxley Farm.

Harold Reid once mused that looking back on his life in the limelight almost felt surreal.

"Some days, I sit on my beautiful front porch, here in Staunton, Virginia ... some days I literally have to pinch myself. Did that really happen to me, or did I just dream that?" he said.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Harold Reid of the Statler Brothers dies at 80 from kidney failure