From Music to Wrestling: The Career Evolution of Jimmy Hart

Early Life 

The manager that would come to be known as “The Mouth Of The South,” was born on New Year’s Day, Jan 1st, in Jackson, MS. He would eventually call Tennessee home, and that’s where his destiny began to take shape. Growing up in a musical household, Jimmy’s mother was a showbiz success herself. Sadie Hart was a Singer/Songwriter who managed to get access to Elvis's eventual manager, Tom Parker. Tom was handling the career of Eddy Arnold at the time.  

Sadie would have a meeting with Parker and pitch him a song. He would tell her to make a demo and that Eddy Arnold would then record the track. Tom Parker was true to his word, and Arnold would take the song to #6 on the Billboard charts. The apple wouldn’t fall far from the tree, and Sadie would encourage Jimmy to pursue music. However, Jimmy says he initially hated singing.  

He would stick with it though, and Jimmy would eventually find himself as a member of The Gentrys. The band would form while the members were still in high school and resonated well with their peers. When they cut their “Keep On Dancing” version, they would have a certifiable hit on their hands. The Gentrys would go on the road and would continue to be for the next several years. It’s easy to see why Jimmy was such a natural performer, as he was doing so at a high level at a young age.  

The Gentrys would enjoy several more hits, but none that ever quite equalled the success of “Keep On Dancing.” They would remain on the road until one of the founding members and creative foundations, Larry Raspberry, would leave the group. Jimmy remembers being devastated by this departure, recalling how he had no idea how to proceed. He would carry on, though, and The Gentrys would scale down to being more of a local act than a national one. He admits to enjoying this point in his life, as he was still performing regularly, without the stresses of travelling for a living.  

Jimmy Hart holding up records from The Gentrys, a band he was a vocalist for.

 A Chance Collaboration 

Jimmy recalls being a big wrestling fan as far back as he can remember. According to his recollection, Jerry Lawler was interested in making a record then, and he was paired with Hart in the studio. Jerry’s version is a bit different, however. He says he happened into a local club one evening and would see Jimmy performing to virtually no audience. He felt terrible for the young musician, and asked him if he ever considered a career in pro wrestling. However their relationship began, what’s certain is that it led Jimmy Hart into an entirely new phase of his professional life. 
 

Memphis 

The chance meeting with Lawler would see Jimmy get his start in pro wrestling. He admits to falling in love with it immediately. At the time, Jerry Lawler was working as a heel, and Jimmy would become his manager, assuming the role he was destined for all along. He and Lawler were highly effective together until the latter was injured, not in the ring, but playing football. This would leave Jimmy without a protégé and an urgent need to find a new direction in a quickly moving territory.  

During this time, Hart would find himself fired by Jerry Jarrett over a misunderstanding. Before this, Hart had made a music video for Jimmy Valiant that Jarrett had still wanted to use. Jimmy decided to use it for leverage to get his job back, feeling he had been wrongly terminated. For whatever reason, he then found himself involved in a sort of power play between Lawler and Jarrett. Looking back, he speculates that he may have been being worked by the two in a strange way to test his loyalty.  

It wasn’t long before Jimmy was back in the fold, and the creative plan to get him back on television was determined. He would denounce Lawler for getting injured and being a liability of sorts. He formed a rotating stable of wrestlers that would be waiting for Jerry, upon his return. This would turn The King into a babyface, creating a fresh run for him. Lawler would run through Jimmy’s guys, and this would be the drawing source for Memphis for months.  

At one point, Jimmy recalls that Lawler legitimately broke his jaw, forcing him to eat only liquid food for weeks. All In all, though, it was during this time that Jimmy became one of the all-time great wrestling managers. It would be a non-wrestler that he would manage against Lawler that would take him to the next level. Thank to his talent, timing, and professionalism, Jimmy Hart was at the epicenter of Memphis wrestling’s most significant angle of all time. It was also a harbinger of what was to come for the business. 

Andy Kaufman 

Andy Kaufman was a talented comedian and something of a performance artist. He was a big wrestling fan, and likely took a great deal of influence from it. He had first approached the WWWF as it was known then and expressed his desire to get involved. He would be turned down by Vincent J. McMahon, as the promoter wasn’t interested in bringing a Hollywood actor into his company. Bill Apter would then suggest that Andy do something with Memphis Wrestling, and Hart remembers Lawler jumping at the idea.  

Andy would start off by wrestling only women until Lawler took exception to his hubris and challenged him. Jimmy recalls Andy being entirely down to earth and eager to learn. He says they travelled together regularly, and Hart was essential in educating Kaufman on the psychology of the business. The run with Lawler did massive business for Memphis and elevated Andy’s career. The success of the rivalry would lead to other promotions working with mainstream personalities to great success. 

Kaufman would eventually turn on Jimmy, but their mutual disdain for Jerry Lawler would bring them back together. Jimmy remembers the early stages of Andy’s cancer setting in and not understanding the severity of it. It was not long after Kaufman’s run as a wrestler that he would succumb to his battle with lung cancer. Jimmy speaks fondly of Andy and likely owes a debt of gratitude to him. It wasn’t long after his work with Kaufman, that Jimmy would get a call from the north, asking him to bring his services to an entirely different promotion. 

WWF 

Jimmy remembers the noise that Vince McMahon Jr and the WWF were making in the mid-80s. Therefore, he was both ecstatic and petrified when he learned they had an interest in him. He initially thought the entire thing was a joke by his friend, Austin Idol. But it began to appear that it was no joke, and soon Jimmy found himself on the phone with McMahon. The reason he was so tepid is because he was worried about Lawler and Jarrett finding out.  

Vince and the WWF were unpopular within the industry, thanks to McMahon’s quest for national expansion. Through talent poaching and running shows in markets established by other territories, Vince had made an industry of enemies. A keen businessman and a visionary himself, Jimmy knew that when you’re creating that sort of buzz, you’re doing something right. He remembers his first phone call and face-to-face meeting with McMahon as brief. Vince told Jimmy that he not only wanted him as a manager but also to help with the music. 

Before Jimmy could go to WWE, though, he had to exit Memphis Wrestling. Jimmy had to get crafty upon his departure and orchestrated a loser leaves town scenario. More often than not, when someone lost a loser Leaves Town Match, they would inevitably end up right back in the territory. Jimmy would be one of the only performers to honor the stipulation and never return to where it all started for him. He informed Lawler of his decision on his way out, and begrudgingly, Lawler thanked him for all that he had done.  

Jimmy would go on to be the most prolific manager in WWE history. He was the type of manager you could put any talent with, and they would be elevated simply by association. His first night with the company would be in the famed Madison Square Garden, and his first big event would be in the same arena. Jimmy Hart would manage King Kong Bundy and Greg Valentine in their respective matches at the first WrestleMania. This would position Hart as a central figure in what many consider the beginning of the era that we know wrestling as in its current form. 

As aforementioned, Jimmy would be heavily involved with the original music content for the WWF. He helped write two full-length albums and penned the iconic themes for acts such as Demolition and Shawn Michaels. His charges would be a who of wrestlers throughout the Golden Era. The Hart Foundation, Dino Bravo, The Honky Tonk Man, Earthquake, The Nasty Boys, The Rougeau Brothers, Money Inc, The Mountie, and even Hulk Hogan. Jimmy was with the company for eight years, and his presence was inescapable for most of that time.  

Jimmy would grow close with Hulk Hogan during his time in the WWF. Funny enough, Jimmy would second Hogan during his time in Memphis, long before the days of HulkaMania. It was in a match against Lawler, and both men had asked Jimmy to go out of his way to make them look better. Jimmy chose to honor Hulk’s request, earning his eternal trust, it would seem. Jimmy claims that Hogan had hoped they would work together when Hart started with WWF. 

That chance would come, but it would end up being the final phase for both men’s WWF run. Hogan had left the company after WrestleMania 8 in 1992 and would not return until January of the following year. This was after Hogan’s close friend, Brutus Beefcake, had only recently recovered from a horrific parasailing accident. His return promo would catalyze Hart to turn babyface and finally find himself in The Hulkster’s good graces. Jimmy would defend Brutus after his client, Money Inc, attacked him at the time. He’d shield Beefcake with his own body, and as a result, Hulk embraced him. 

Jimmy Hart would be in Hulk’s corner for the first time ever, but it wouldn’t be the last. WrestleMania 9 would be Hogan’s final with the WWF for nine years after helping establish the event. Hulk had begun to map out his career after WWF. He had several offers on the table, including a television show. Unbeknownst to Jimmy Hart, Hogan planned for their business partnership to continue beyond wrestling.  

WCW 

Jimmy Hart has gone on record saying, “Where Hulk goes, wrestling goes”. From 1985 to 1996, Hulk Hogan truly was the microcosm of the genre. Jimmy remembers Hogan’s pitch for Hart to manage his career post-WWF. He asked Jimmy what he was making and offered to cut him a check for that amount on the spot. Jimmy wasn’t sure, and the pragmatist in him theorized several scenarios in which such an arrangement could potentially go south. Finally, Hart agreed, and his journey with Hogan would eventually take them back to wrestling.  

Jimmy worked on Hogan’s show, Thunder In Paradise, and had a semi-recurring role. This would lead to a meeting with then WCW President Eric Bischoff, as Universal Studios hosted both Thunder In Paradise and WCW. Eric told Hogan that if he ever wanted to return to the ring, he would love it to be with WCW. For fans at the time, the concept was rather wild. They had seen talents go from WCW to WWF, and vice versa, but never anyone with the star power of Hogan. This would undoubtedly shift the pendulum.  

Hulk decided to take the offer and, of course, took Jimmy Hart. In the Summer of 1994, WCW would announce that Hogan had signed with them during a television special. Jimmy Hart was front and center with Hogan in a historical moment. Hulk was immediately given a World Title match with Ric Flair, which would take place at Bash At The Beach in July of that year. The show would record numbers as a new era in pro wrestling officially commenced. 

Initially, Hogan replicated his act in WWF, with minor variations. Jimmy recalls that over time though, the boos began to pick up. At one point, Hart turned on Hogan to garner sympathy for The Hulkster, but it didn’t work. It was time for a new direction, and that would become the NWO. Upon Hogan’s heel turn, Jimmy would gradually become less of a television presence and more of a backstage one. Much like in WWF, he would be heavily involved in the music department in WCW. He also helped book some shows, such as Saturday Night, and would remain in the company until WWF purchased it in 2001.  

Legacy 

Jimmy would not take a full-time position with the WWF upon their purchase of WCW. He would, however, make sporadic appearances on their shows. In 2005, the same year that Hulk Hogan was inducted, Jimmy Hart would enter the WWE Hall Of Fame. It was an honor befitting one of the greatest managers of all time and the culmination of a fantastic career in show business. From his start in Memphis in the 70s, his crucial role in the Kaufman/Lawler rivalry, to his final days in WCW, Hart had indeed done it all.  

Jimmy would work on the independent scene after WCW closed and would eventually work for TNA for several years. Shortly after the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, he would be cast on one of the site’s original shows, Legends House. The show was a modest hit, and we were allowed to see Jimmy in a different light. He would eventually become a sort of ambassador for WWE, signing a legend’s contract. His most recent television appearance would come during the 30th Anniversary of Monday Night Raw, when he would accompany Hogan to the ring. At 79, “The Mouth Of The South” has become as much of a legend as any wrestler he ever managed.