1 biography 1.1 life , rise fame 1.2 teen rock , roll star 1.3 later career 1.4 death biography early life , rise fame martin born in sutherlin, virginia, east of danville. mother stage mother, , father , uncle both musicians. before six, martin singing , playing guitar, inspired eddy arnold , hank williams. on years, resulted in statewide contests on 200 contestants, won. result, janis asked play on same bill cowboy copas , sunshine sue. through them janis became member of old dominion barndance on wrva, came out of richmond every saturday night on cbs network. when in mid-teens, appearing country singers including arnold, hank snow, browns , jim reeves. claimed tired of country music , began rock , roll career. teen rock , roll star the wrva station announcer, carl stutz, wrote song called willyum , , asked janis sing song live on stage saturday night make demo tape , send publisher in new york. week after recording, stutz called janis rca victor interested in recording willyum . h...