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Roger Dean Miller (January 2, 1936 -- October 25, 1992) was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs. His most recognized tunes included the chart-topping country music and pop music hits King of the Road, Dang Me, and England Swings, all of which came from the Nashville sound era of the mid-1960s. Miller grew up in Oklahoma and then he served in the U.S. Army. He began his musical career as a songwriter during the late 1950s, writing such hits as Billy Bayou and Home for Jim Reeves and Invitation to the Blues for Ray Price. He later began his musical recording career, and he reached the peak of his fame during the late 1960s. Miller continued to tour for concerts and recording sessions into the 1990s. He had his final top 20 country hit in Old Friends with Willie Nelson in 1982. Later in his life, he wrote the music and lyrics for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Big River (1985), in which he also acted. Miller died of lung cancer in 1992, and he was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame three years later. Some of his songs continued to be recorded by younger artists, with Tall, Tall Trees sung by Alan Jackson and Husbands and Wives sung by Brooks & Dunn, each reaching the number one spot on country charts in the 1990s. The Roger Miller Museum in his home town is a tribute to Miller. Miller was married three times, and he was the father of seven children. Miller's first wife Barbara bore his first child, Michael, who died young. The couple then had three more children after Michael's death — Alan, Rhonda and Shari. By the time Shari was born, Miller's career was blossoming into national popularity. The family remained in Inglewood for a short time after Miller found fame. The increasing interest in Miller caused struggles for the performer: He suffered from depression and insomnia, and had a drug addiction which contributed to the end of his first and second marriages. Miller was known to walk off shows and to fight. After his divorce from his first wife, he married Leah Kendrick. She gave birth to two children, Shannon and Dean Miller, who like his father, went on to become a singer and songwriter. The Christmas song "Old Toy Trains" was written by Miller about his son, who was two years old when it was released in 1967. After Miller's divorce from Leah, he married Mary Arnold, whom he met through Kenny Rogers.Arnold was a member of The First Edition, a band that included Rogers. They adopted two children: Taylor and Adam. After The First Edition, she performed with Miller on tours, including a White House performance for President Gerald Ford. In 2009, Mrs. Miller was inducted into the Iowa Rock'n Roll Hall of Fame, As of 2012, Mrs. Miller manages Roger Miller's estate. She sued the Sony Corporation for copyright infringement in the case Roger Miller Music, Inc. v. Sony/ATV Publishing, LLC (2007), which went to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Arnold was ultimately awarded nearly 1.0 million dollars in royalties and the rights to the songs that Miller wrote in 1964. Miller was a lifelong cigarette smoker. During a television interview Miller explained that he composed his songs from "bits and pieces" of ideas he wrote on scraps of paper. When asked what he did with the unused bits and pieces, he half joked, "I smoke them!" Miller died of lung and throat cancer in 1992, at age 56 shortly after the discovery of a growth under his vocal cords.His body was cremated. Thank you to Roger Dean Miller for one of the greatest Christmas songs ever.