Toy Caldwell was an American Rock musician who was a founding member of The Marshal Tucker Band and lead guitarist as well as songwriter till 1983. In his time with the band, he performed Can’t You See Me, one of their most popular hits.
He was born on the 13th December 1947 at Spartanburg, South Carolina. His parents were Toy Talmadge Caldwell Sn and Virginia Vaughn Caldwell.
He graduated from the Dorman High School in Spartanburg where he met great friends that will be part of his life history. His childhood was filled with music as his father played an acoustic guitar.
Here Are 32 Interesting Facts About Toy Caldwell
1.Who Was He Married To?
He married his wife Abbie Goode on September 12, 1969. The song ‘abs Song’ on Marshal Tuckers album was written for her.
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2.Toy Caldwell Daughters
Toy Caldwell fathered two daughters, Cassady and Toy Geneal Caldwell.
3.Toy Caldwell Music Beginnings
Toy Caldwell first started playing the guitar with his younger brother Tommy Caldwell. Their music careers revolve around each other.
4.Music And Other Interests
While in high school, he and his friends were interested in playing basketball and football and also pursued interests in fishing and hunting. His close associates were George McCorkle, Jerry Eubanks, and Doug Gray.
5.Enlisted For Marine Corps
He enlisted in the US Marine Corps and reported for recruit training in 1966, during his service, he was injured and had to be evacuated for two weeks due to medical reasons.
6.Toy Caldwell Was Not The Only One To Serve In The Marines
Toy Caldwell Snr also served in the US marine corps from 1942-1946 as a staff sergeant while his younger brother Tommy Caldwell also served in the Marines.
When they were saluted and honored in 2003 at the Spartanburg chapter of the US Marines League, their father who was still alive, spoke of the honor of being honored.
7.Discharge And Return Home
In 1969, he was discharged from the service. He once more reunited with his friends from high school and continued singing.
8.He Served In Vietnam
Toy Caldwell was deployed and served in Vietnam. His brother as well as their father also served in Vietnam at different times.
9.From Toy Factory To The Marshall Tucker Band
Forming the Toy Factory Band was not hard for them as they had always played together, alongside Franklin Wilkie, Eubanks, and Doug Gray, they formed the band.
Later on, Willie left while Tommy Caldwell joined giving birth to the Marshall Tucker Band.
10.Why Was The Band Named Marshall Tucker?
Toy Caldwell named his band after the blind piano tuner and rehearsal hall owner of where they practiced as a band.
11.Credits Of The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band went on to have 7 gold-certified and 2 platinum-certified Albums in its hay day which peaked in the 1970s.
Songs such as Heard It In A Love Song, Can’t You See and This Ol’ Cowboy were favorites among their songs.
12.Performing Upwards of 300 Shows Per Year
The Marshall Tucker Band performed over 300 shows per year at their peak. Well, this says something about how good they were.
13.Can’t You See Has Been Covered Severally
Toy Caldwell Can’t You See was a big hit for the Marshall Tucker band and has been covered by various artists across time like Poison, Kid Rock, Hank Williams Jnr among others.
His other songs as a solo artist were not so bad.
14.The Marshall Tucker Band Played At President Jimmy Carter’s Inauguration in 1977
During the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States of America, the Marshall Tucker Band played a song.
15.Did The Marshall Tucker Band Survive?
The band still survives but with only one of the original founding members. Following the death’s of the Caldwells’, McCorkle died in 2007 leaving only Doug Gray as the only surviving original member of the band.
16.Is Marshall Tucker Still Alive?
The 76 years old Marshall Tucker is still alive and proud of how the band named after him has performed so far.
17.Meet One Of His Two Brothers
Toy Caldwell was the brother of Tommy Calwell, his co-founder and bass guitarist. They both started singing when Toy was 9 and Tommy 7 years old.
18.Why Did Toy Caldwell Leave The Marshall Tucker Band
After 15 years with the Marshall Tucker Band, Toy Caldwell left in 1985. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, one of his former bandmates, McCorkle has said he left the band to go solo.
19.Even The Police Could Not Stop Them
Practice time sometimes involved ‘using each other’s houses or even the Caldwell basement’ recalls one of their neighbors while growing up.
They were so loud that the police were sometimes called but they listened to the music and left.
20.Forming His Own Band
He later formed a band going by his name and released a CD in 1992, it was re-released in 2009 under the Hopesong/GMV Nashville label.
Later, his friend named the album Son of the South.
21.What Was His Music Style
Toy Caldwell was known to have fast fingers on his guitar and instead of using a pick on his electric guitar, he preferred to use his finger.
His music was a combination of rock and roll, country, blues, and pop with romantic entanglements.
22.Toy Caldwell Never Left Home
The talented Caldwell never strayed from home for a long time except when he was touring, Spartanburg was his home and he always returned there.
23.A Plumber During The Day And Musician At Night
Toy Caldwell took odd jobs like plumbing while he performed with the band at gigs. It was Tommy that approached the record company to front Toy some money to stop the day job while he concentrates on the music.
24.Controversy Over Copywrite
Despite being legally recognized as the Copywrite owner of the Marshall Tucker Band song Can’t You See Me, there have been speculations of the song being originally written by Smoothdog, another musician who was his contemporary.
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25.Double Tragedy Strikes Toy Caldwell
Two of his brothers Tommy Calwell and Tim Calwell were both killed in tragic deaths. Tim was 25 years when he was killed by a garbage truck on the 28th of March,1980, a month to the death of Tommy, who was 30 years at the time of his death.
26.The End Comes For Toy Caldwell
On 25th February 1993, His body was found beside his wife in their home in Moore, Spartanburg.
27.What Caused His Death
The autopsy report concluded he died from cardiac arrest due to cocaine use.
28.Final Resting Place Of Toy Caldwell
His final resting place is at Green Lawn Memorial Gardens.
29.Former Band Members Refuse To Pay Tribute In New Song
His former band members refuse to release a song as a tribute to him because they feel it is a rip-off and not their style. they would rather mourn him quietly than release a song for profit in his name.
30.What Was His Net Worth?
Most of his life was dedicated to his career in music, he chose music over any other side hussle. his present net worth is not known but with many albums to their credit, his former band, the Marshall Tucker Band is estimated to be worth $16 million.
31.Toy Caldwell Legacy
The Hutchings-Caldwell detachment in Spartanburg is so named after Toy and Tommy Caldwell and Private Nolan Ryan Hutchings who served with the Spartanburg chapter of the Marine corps. Pvt Hutchings was killed on a mission during the Iraq invasion in 2003.
32.The Caldwell Brothers Park
Some old friends of the Caldwells have been making proposals to build a park in honor of Toy and Tommy Caldwell who impacted their lives in Spartanburg. The land has been relegated since 1980 but has been presently reclaimed thanks to the effort of Don Bramblett, an old friend of the Caldwells.
The Land with the help of anonymous financiers has been reclaimed. The 3.1 acres of land is bordered by Fairforest Creek.
