North Florida Music Hall of Fame

Mae Axton

Born in Bardwell, Tex., 1914, raised mostly in Oklahoma, Axton came to Jacksonville with her naval-officer husband in 1949, where she became an English teacher at DuPont and Paxon high schools. She also freelanced as a music journalist for Country Song Roundup and served as a regional publicist for Nashville-based concert promoter “Colonel” Tom Parker. In her 1960 autobiography, Country Singers as I Know ‘Em, Axton claimed she introduced Parker to a 19-year-old Elvis Presley, and in addition hounded RCA’s Nashville division head, Steve Sholes, to sign Presley (other sources indicate that RCA had been keeping an eye on Presley long before this). In 1955, she and local musician Tommy Durden co-wrote Presley’s first million seller, “Heartbreak Hotel,” although other sources have indicated the song had already been written and performed by Durden. In any case, she wrote or co-wrote more than 90 songs for various country singers and even co-wrote one for Perry Como. She also helped launch the career of Jacksonville’s Johnny Tillotson. While living in Nashville, she did promotional and public-relations work for Eddy Arnold, Tanya Tucker and others and managed her son Hoyt’s record label, Bullfrog Records. She died in 1998, in her home in Hendersonville, outside Nashville. Also see Axton, Hoyt; Tillotson, Johnny; Garner, Merlene.