Country singer, songwriter, and entertainer Little David Wilkins scored 17 country hits as a performer, mostly in the 1970s, and his songwriting reached across pop, soul, country, and folk-pop. His composition "Coming on Strong" became a No. 11 pop hit for Brenda Lee in 1966 and won a BMI Citation of Achievement as one of the most played songs of 1967. He also wrote songs recorded by artists including Percy Sledge, Conway Twitty, the Serendipity Singers, Stonewall Jackson, Sonny James, Barbara Mandrell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn, and Mickey Gilley. Born David Ray Wilkins on Wilkinstown Rd near Parsons on May 18, 1940, he moved with his family to Memphis soon afterward and returned to Parsons when he started school in 1946. He performed in high school assembly programs in 1954 as one of four guitar players, graduated from Parsons High School in 1958, then began playing several nights a week at the Cottage Cafe, the 120 Club, and clubs in Jackson including the Delmar Club. After switching to piano in 1960, it became his primary instrument. That year Johnny Cash's drummer, W.S. Holland, brought him to Sun Records in Memphis, and in 1962 his first record was released on Sun's Phillips International subsidiary, with Sam Phillips producing the single. After Hubert Long saw him perform in Parsons and had him record song demos, his first hit as a songwriter came when Stonewall Jackson recorded "Give it back to the Indians" in November 1963. Wilkins moved to Nashville on July 4, 1964. In Nashville he performed six nights a week at Ireland's Restaurant on 21st Avenue South, helping transform it into a music industry hangout, and Jerry Chestnut's song "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" was written about Wilkins' four years there; though Wilkins did not record it, the song later became a hit for Elvis Presley in 1975 and Travis Tritt in 1993. He resumed his recording career on Plantation Records, then signed with Owen Bradley at MCA Records and recorded there from 1972 until Bradley's retirement in 1977, scoring two Top 20 country hits, "Whoever turned you on forgot to turn you off" and "One Monkey Don't stop no Show." Another MCA single, "George keeps pulling on my Ring," was later recorded by Conway Twitty, becoming a No. 3 country hit in 1977 and a BMI Award Song. For 17 years Wilkins toured the United States, Canada, and Germany in night clubs, casinos, and stage shows, opened for stars including Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Marty Robbins, appeared on television programs including Hee-Haw, Pop goes the Country, and Nashville Now, and retired from the road in 1990 to care for his parents in Parsons. On August 24, 2017, a section of Highway 641 in Parsons was dedicated as Little David Wilkins Highway, and he wrote the song "Highway 641, I'm gonna call you mine" for the occasion.