Born in Cuero, Texas on August 22, 1948, Sam Neely said he fell in love with the guitar at age 10.  Sam's family later moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where by age 15 Neely was playing guitar in bands at local dances.  Around 1966 he joined a local band called Buckle, and gained his first recording experience with that group. 

At age 19 Sam, while watching the "Merv Griffin" TV show, saw a movie producer ask for song submissions for a soundtrack he was working on.  Sam submitted some material, and that was the start of his professional music career.

With the help of a Hollywood movie producer, Sam soon signed with Capitol Records and found immediate success with his top 20 pop hit "Lovin'You Just Crossed My Mind."  That song and Sam's two Capitol LPs that followed set off a whirlwind of activity that brought him to perform at the Palomino, Bitter End, and Troubador, to TV appearances on "American Bandstand," "Midnight Special," and other shows, and to sharing the concert stage with such acts as Juice Newton, the Guess Who, and such emerging country acts as Con Hunley, Janie Fricke, and John Conlee.

Neely's follow-up Capitol single, "Rosalie," went top 40, an A&M single, "You Can Have Her," went top 20, and a later release, "I Fought the Law," went top 40.  He joined A&M Records for a brief time beginning in 1974, and cut several songs for Elektra from 1976-78, but by 1980 he moved back to Texas, where the only recording he did was for Mickey Gilley's Astro record label.

Along the way Sam placed songs in two movie soundtracks, "Bonnie's Kids," which featured his song "Blue Time," and "Tilt," starring Brooke Shields, which included his "Long Road to Texas."  But sensing that his songwriting and recording efforts were not gaining momentum, Sam turned his energy to operating a successful Corpus Christi nightclub, Neely's, and toward performing at area concerts.

In 1982 regional MCA Records employee Roger Ramsey brought Sam to the attention of the label's Nashville staff producer and A&R executive Ron Chancey, who brought Neely to the label in early 1983.

"Much of my early music fits into the standards of today's country sound," Sam said.  Neely resides in Corpus Christi and has a son Jason, who "can sing and play circles around the music I made at his age," Sam said.

Sam has written and performed numerous hit songs, including;  "Rosalie", "You Can Have Her", "I Fought The Law", "Loving you just crossed my mind", "Long road to Texas", "Jesse California", "O'Molly B", "Get down on your Knee's and pray", and many, many  more.  He also has written title songs for two movies, "Bonnies Kids" and "Tilt", starring Brooke Shields.

Along with the movies, Sam had the honor to sing the final song of the final episode for television's M*A*S*H series, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen".  The song was entitled, "The Party's Over (Farewell To M*A*S*H)".

Sam is also one of the very few artist to have recorded with four major recording labels; Capital, A&M, Electra, and  MCA Records.   The young boy shown in the above photo is the son of Steve Weldon.  Steve was at one time a stand-in host for television's "Gong Show".

Here's a brief list of people and groups that Sam has worked with.

Brooke Shields, Del Shannon, Asleep At The Wheel, Steve Wariner, Jimmy Buffet, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Rodriguez, The Guess Who, Rick Nelson, Tom T. Hall, George Strait, and the Zombies