ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993                   TAG: 9304270213
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BRISTOL                                LENGTH: Short


SONGWRITER COMING TO BRISTOL

Richard Leigh, a 1973 graduate of Virginia Highlands Community College at Abingdon who has made a name for himself as a country music songwriter, will perform at a homecoming concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Virginia High School auditorium in Bristol.

General admission is $15.

One of his songs, "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue," was the Country Music Academy Song of the Year for 1978. His most recent hit is "The Greatest Man I Ever Knew," which Reba McIntire has recorded and which has been nominated as the academy's song of the year for 1993.

His "Somewhere In My Broken Heart," co-written with Billy Dear, was the academy's song of the year in 1991. Other songs by Leigh include "I'll Get Over You," "That's the Thing About Love," "Life's Highway," "I Wish I Had a Heart of Stone" and "Only Here for a Little While."

Leigh is president of the National Songwriters Association International. A singer himself, he has recorded on RCA Records in Nashville, Tenn.

The college's Educational Foundation, made up of volunteers who help raise funds for the school, arranged the concert. All profits go for academic scholarships and support for the college.

Further information is available by calling Jack Garland at 628-6094, 466-3444 or 783-6645.



 by CNB