Ed Bruce

William Edwin Bruce Jr. (December 29, 1939 – January 8, 2021) was an American country music songwriter, singer, and actor. He was known for writing the 1975 song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and recording the 1982 country number-one hit "You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had". He also co-starred in the television series Bret Maverick with James Garner during the 1981–1982 season.

Early life Bruce was born in Keiser, Arkansas, United States, and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. After the 1986 album entitled Night Things and a 1988 self-titled follow-up, Bruce made a conscious decision to cut back on his music to focus on his acting career, appearing in several made-for-TV films. He had the second lead on the television revival of 1957's Maverick, called Bret Maverick. Starring James Garner as a legendary Western gambler, the series ran on NBC-TV during the 1981–82 season. Bruce played the irascibly surly town lawman who found himself reluctantly co-owning a saloon with Maverick, with whom he seemed to maintain a surreally adversarial relationship more or less throughout the entire season. Bruce sang and wrote the theme song to the show, while Garner himself sang the same song over the end titles at the show's close, while being relentlessly interrupted by network announcements about upcoming programming.

Bruce appeared in several theatrical cinematic releases, including Fire Down Below with Steven Seagal.

Posthumous album An album of previously unreleased songs by Bruce, titled After Hours, was released by Music Row Talent Records on May 10, 2024, in association with Old Hat Productions. The album featured 16 tracks, 13 of which were remixes of earlier demonstration recordings. In a review, Americana Highways called the project "a touching final effort from the Arkansas-born artist/actor/songwriter." Music Row Magazine wrote that the album proves Bruce "was a songwriting master to the end."

Honors, awards, distinctions Bruce was honored with the Arkansas Country Music Award for Lifetime Achievement on June 3, 2018, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Discography