Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists. 　　Howard completed only nine years of formal education, though he was an avid reader. When he was 12 years of age, he began writing songs, "an enthusiasm fueled by an appetite for books and an ear for a telling phrase." After serving as a paratrooper with the United States Army, he went to Los Angeles, California, hoping to sell his music.