Editing Marty Robbins (section)

==Early life==
[[File:A White Sport Coat - Grown-Up Tears - Billboard ad 1957.png|thumb|left|130px|''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' advertisement, April 20, 1957]] 
[[File:Glendale-Catlin Court-F.M. Staggs House-1919 001.jpg|250px|thumb|The F.M. Staggs/Marty Robbins House in Glendale, Arizona]]

Robbins was born Martin David Robinson on September 26, 1925, in [[Glendale, Arizona|Glendale]], a suburb of [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] in [[Maricopa County, Arizona|Maricopa County]].<ref name="Biography.com">{{cite web  |title=Marty Robbins |url=https://www.biography.com/musician/marty-robbins |website=Biography |date=August 12, 2020 |access-date=15 December 2021 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Pruett | first = Barbara J. | title = Marty Robbins: Fast Cars and Country Music | year = 2007 | publisher = Scarecrow Press | isbn = 9780810860360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=otDFSIwdsSIC&pg=PA522 | access-date = 2014-04-24}}</ref> His parents, John "Jack" Robinson (1889–1975) and Emma Heckle (1889–1970)<ref name=":0" /> divorced in 1937 when Robbins 12 years old.<ref name="Biography.com"/>

Among the warmer memories of his childhood, Robbins recalled having listened to stories of the [[American West]] told by his maternal grandfather, "Texas Bob" Heckle (1847-1931),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2019-01-14 |title=Robert Matthew Heckle |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Robert-Heckle/6000000014254248286 |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US}}</ref> who was a traveling salesman, raconteur, and local [[medicine man]].<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Rhymes of the Frontier|date=1929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPxoHAAACAAJ|access-date=2014-10-25|last1=" Heckle|first1="Texas Bob}}</ref> 
Robbins later recalled: "He had two little books of poetry he would sell. I used to sing him church songs and he would tell me stories. A lot of the songs I've written were brought about because of stories he told me. Like 'Big Iron' I wrote because he was a Texas Ranger. At least he told me he was".<ref name="Biography.com"/>

Robbins dropped out of high school in Glendale before his time in the Navy, and worked as an amateur boxer, dug ditches, drove trucks, delivered ice, and served as a mechanic's helper.<ref>"Marty Robbins Obituary" December 8th 1982. ''The New York Times''.</ref>

At 17, Robbins left home to serve in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] as an [[Landing craft tank|LCT]] [[coxswain]] during [[World War II]]. He was stationed in the [[Solomon Islands]] in the Pacific theater. To pass the time during the war, he learned to play the guitar, started writing songs,<ref name=pc10/> and came to love [[Hawaiian music]].

After his [[Military discharge|discharge]] from the military in 1947 and his marriage the following year, Robbins began to play at local [[Music venue|venues]] in Phoenix,<ref name=pc10/> In the early 1950s, Marty moved on to [[Host (radio)|host]] his own show on [[KIHP (AM)|KTYL]] and then his own television show ''Western Caravan'' on [[KPHO|KPHO-TV]] in Phoenix. After [[Little Jimmy Dickens]] made a [[guest appearance]] on Robbins' TV show, Dickens got Robbins a [[record deal]] with [[Columbia Records]].