Rory Michael Bourke

Family, friends, and the music community of Nashville are mourning the loss of Rory Michael Bourke.

Rory was born on July 14, 1942, in Cleveland, Ohio, to James L. Bourke and Rita McMahon Bourke. He had four siblings, Jim, Catherine, Shannon, and Mary. As a child he would sneak out of the house to the bus stop and ask the bus driver if he could have a free ride down to the movie theater, where he would spend the afternoons watching whatever Hollywood musical was showing on the big screen. He studied history at Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland, but music was his passion. He began playing original tunes at a college coffee shop in Emmitsburg called the Purple Onion, where he was paid 50 cents for the night plus all the coffee he could drink. He met his wife Rita Welty when she came to hear him perform, and they were married in 1964. There was never a more devoted husband and wife than Rory and Rita Bourke.

Rory left his job tracing lost railroad cars for the NY Central in Cleveland to take a job as a clerk in a record store and soak in music. He soon applied for a job with Mercury Records, and because he was able to instantly identify one song during the interview as catalogue number 20805 Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party; I Can Cry If I Want To,” he got the job on the spot. He later accepted a position as head of Smash Records in Chicago where he promoted artists like Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis, and James Brown. But on the side, Rory was writing his own music.

A singer-songwriter from Nashville named Norro Wilson came to Chicago to seek Rory’s help in promoting one of Norro’s records. The next morning, Norro and Rory wrote the first verse and the chorus to “The Most Beautiful Girl.” A week later, Rory wrote the second verse and sent it in the mail to Norro in Nashville.

While “The Most Beautiful Girl” was floating around Music City waiting for its true home, Rory and Rita had packed their bags for Nashville, and Rory had already landed his first hit song, “Patch It Up” by Elvis Presley in 1970. You couldn’t get a bigger boost to a career than an Elvis hit.

But this even bigger boost was about to come. Charlie Rich heard “The Most Beautiful Girl” and recorded it in 1973. The song became an international sensation. (It has been recorded now by over 40 notable artists, and played worldwide from every karaoke bar in Japan to the bomb shelters in Kiev last year.) Rory Bourke had already reached what most songwriters would consider to be lifetime achievements, and yet he was new to the scene.

Over his lifetime, Rory was nominated for two Grammys, earned two CMA Triple play awards, was ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year three times, and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His hits included:
• “You Look So Good in Love” by George Strait (This was Strait’s first #1 hit.)
• “Do You Love as Good as You Look” by The Bellamy Brothers
• “I Know a Heartache When I See One” by Jennifer Warnes
• “I Wouldn’t Be a Man” by Don Williams and then by Josh Turner
• “I Couldn’t See You Leavin’” by Conway Twitty
• “Bye Bye” by Jo Dee Messina
• “Little Red Rodeo” by Collin Raye
• “Eyes of a Woman” by Tim McGraw
• “Baby I Lied” by Deborah Allen
• “Carlene” by Phil Vassar
• “He Talks to Me” by Lorrie Morgan
• “It’s Too Late to Leave Me Now” by Cher and then by Dolly Parton
• “Man with a Memory” by Joe Nichols
• And several Anne Murray #1 hits, including “A Little Good News,” “Shadows in the Moonlight,” “Blessed are the Believers,” “Another Sleepless Night,” as well as her recent single on her new album last year “Rest Easy in My Love.”

Rory wrote some of his songs alone, but he placed deep value on the art of co-writingwriting. All of the most successful Anne Murray hits were written with co-writer and best friend Charlie Black. Rory and Charlie invited others to join their long-running partnership, including good friends Tommy Rocco, Phil Vassar, Kerry Chater, and Steve Bogard. He wrote several acclaimed songs with talented wordsmith and lyricist Mike Reid. And up until a month before he passed away, Rory was still writing with his friend Jim Moran. The list goes on and on and on of talented collaborators from Music City. Rory also mentored dozens of new young writers, often saying that he learned as much from them as he taught them. Every songwriter who wrote with Rory Bourke loved him.

But no one loved Rory Bourke more than his family loved him, and everyone who might feel lucky to have known him, must understand what a higher privilege it was for us to be his daughters, his grandchildren, and his wife. The only thing Rory loved as much as music was his family. Dad said once that every love song he wrote was about Rita. And he was deeply proud of his three girls, Allyson, Kelley, and Leslie.

Rory’s other great love was photography. He had an excellent eye for light and subject, and all family vacations involved long sessions of standing and posing and waiting while he changed lenses or adjusted his flash to attain just the right picture. These long photo shoots paid off; Rory had some of his photography on display at Zieberts Bookstore in town, and they grace the walls of all of our homes now. This means a lot because Rory once said he wanted to be remembered as much for his photography as for his music.

Film and music came together in his passion for Hollywood’s Golden Age musicals. He never went to sleep a night of his adult life without an MGM or Warner Brothers classic movie playing on the TV, and he was good to have on your ocean cruise trivia team because there is always a question about Judy Garland or Cary Grant. Dad knew every detail of every Hollywood musical ever filmed. He simply had a mind for the arts.

Above all, Rory had so many qualities to admire. He was soothing to be around and always made other people feel seen. He was humble about his talents. He was driven by integrity and honesty and faith. He was deeply admired by just about everyone who ever met him. Perhaps he was unusual in his sensitivity and kindness, and in so, was a model of what a good man should be. Someone recently remarked, “The world needs more Rorys.”

Visitation with the Bourke family will be on Friday, October 30, 2026, from 10:30am until 12:00pm, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, on West End Avenue in Nashville. The Memorial service will follow from 12:00pm until 1:00pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Rory Bourke’s name to the American Diabetes Association or the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Arrangements in the care of Compassion Funeral & Cremation Services, Nashville, TN (615) 857-9955. We proudly remain locally owned & operated.