Archie Moore (1916 - 1998)

Archie Moore He turned professional in 1938 and boxed all but one of his 12 bouts that year in San Diego. Moore had eight bouts in 1939, going 5–2 during that span, with one “no contest.” He lost to former Middleweight Champion and future Hall of Famer Teddy Yarosz during that time, and his no-contest […]

King George VI (1895 - 1952)

George VI was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was […]

Red Foley (1910 - 1968)

Red Foley Red Foley was one of the biggest stars in country during the post-war era, a silky-voiced singer who sold some 25 million records between 1944 and 1965 and whose popularity went far in making country music a viable mainstream commodity. Born Clyde Julian Foley on June 17, 1910, in Blue Lick, KY, he […]

Speck Rhodes (1915 - 2000)

Speck Rhodes was a country music comedian and entertainer. Rhodes was best known for his appearances on the Porter Wagoner television show. He came from a musical family and with his two brothers and sister, were known as Speck, Slim, Bea, and Dusty. 1934 they were touring the RKO vaudeville circuit as the Log Cabin […]

Henry Haynes (1920 - 1971)

Henry Haynes Haynes was born near Knoxville, Tennessee on July 29, 1920. He met Kenneth Burns during a WNOX-AM audition in 1936 when they were both 16 years old. Haynes strummed the guitar and Burns played the mandolin. Known as Junior and Dude (pronounced “dood’-ee”), the duo was rechristened Homer and Jethro when WNOX Program […]

Bill Carlisle (1908 - 2003)

Bill Carlisle Yodeling singer/songwriter/guitarist Bill Carlisle was the younger brother of popular 1930s country singer Cliff Carlisle. During the ’30s, Bill established himself as an expert purveyor of racy, blues-tinged country songs, but during the ’50s and ’60s, he was best-known for his novelty songs as he and his family band, the Carlisles, became regulars […]

Smiley Burnette (1911 - 1967)

Smiley Burnette Lester A. Burnett (he added the final “e” later in life) was born in Summum, Illinois, on March 18, 1911, and grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. He began singing as a child and learned to play a wide variety of instruments by ear, yet never learned to read or write music. In his […]

Red Sovine (1918 - 1980)

Red Sovine In 1965 Sovine found his niche when he recorded “Giddyup Go“, which, like most of his other trucker hits, he co-wrote with Tommy Hill. It is spoken, rather than sung, as the words of an older long-distance truck driver who rediscovers his long-lost son driving another truck on the same highway. Minnie Pearl […]

Thomas Horn (1860 - 1903)

Known as “Tom,” he was born in 1860 to Thomas S. Horn, Sr. and Mary Ann Maricha (née Miller) on their family farm in rural northeastern Scotland County, Missouri. They had 600 acres (bisected by the South Wyaconda River), located between the towns of Granger and Etna. Tom was the fifth of twelve children. During […]

Charlie Rich (1932 - 1995)

Charlie Rich Musician Charlie Rich had several No. 1 country songs in the 1970s, including “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.” Commercial success came at a considerable personal price for Charlie Rich. His drinking and resulting bad behavior had spiraled out of control. His behavior came to a head in a shocking on-stage […]

Jack Weil (1901 - 2008)

Jack Arnold Weil (March 28, 1901 – August 13, 2008) was the founder and CEO of the Denver-based Western clothing manufacturer Rockmount Ranch Wear and was believed to be the oldest working CEO in the United States. Weil was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1901. In 1926, Weil (also known as Papa or “Papa Jack”) […]

Estée Lauder (1908 - 2004)

Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Corona, Queens in 1906, the second child born to Rose Schotz Rosenthal and Max Mentzer. Her mother was French Catholic on her maternal side and Hungarian Jewish on her father’s side. Rose emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1898 with her five children to join her […]

Charlie Poole (1892 - 1931)

Charlie Poole Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers were one of the most popular string bands of the 1920s. If they didn’t have the foot-stomping exuberance of their chief competitors, Georgia’s Skillet Lickers, they offered a debonair precision that was equally infectious. Infused with ragtime and pop, their music almost seemed to swing at […]

Ramsey Hughes (1928 - 1928)

Ramsey Hughes Patsy Cline had participated in a benefit concert in Kansas City for the family of a disc jockey (“Cactus” Jack Call) who had died in a car accident. Ramsey (Randy) Hughes, Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Cowboy Copas, were all in Hughes Piper Comanche, when it crashed just west of Camden, Tennessee in […]

Richard Blackwell (1922 - 2008)

Blackwell was born Richard Sylvan Selzer in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn to Henry Selzer, a working-class printer, and Eva Selzer, were the American-born children of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. He had one older brother. He claimed he was severely beaten by a stepfather, often sleeping in the alley beneath a fire escape […]

Bettie Page (1923 - 2008)

Bettie Page Page was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the second of six children to Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle. At a young age, Page had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old. (In the 1930 Census, a few weeks before Bettie’s […]

Johnny Paycheck (1938 - 2003)

Johnny Paycheck Johnny PayCheck, the hard-living Nashville guitar slinger who urged the working class to “Take This Job and Shove It,” has died. Although he had been sober for years, decades of boozing and drugging had taken its toll on the honky-tonker. He had been in declining health for the past several years, spending recent […]

Mae Axton (1914 - 1997)

Mae Axton She was born Mae Boren in 1914 in Bardwell, Texas, but was raised in Oklahoma. There were many politicians within her family – her brother, David, became a state senator. She obtained a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and then worked for Life magazine as a reporter. In the mid-Thirties, […]

Harlan Howard (1927 - 2002)

Harlan Howard Country music’s preeminent composer, Harlan Howard boasted an unparalleled body of work encompassing well over 4,000 songs; the writer behind such perennials as “I Fall to Pieces,” “Life Turned Her That Way,” and “Heartaches by the Number,” he scored major chart hits during every decade of the post war era. Born September 8, […]

Jethro (1920 - 1989)

Jethro Kenneth C. Burns (March 10, 1920 – February 4, 1989) was an American country musician, comedian, and mandolin player. He was better known by his stage name Jethro from his years with Henry D. Haynes as part of the comedic musical duo Homer and Jethro beginning in 1936. Burns was born in Conasauga, Tennessee […]

Lester Flatt (1914 - 1979)

Lester Flatt was a bluegrass guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in the The Foggy Mountain Boys (popularly known as “Flatt and Scruggs”). Flatt’s career spanned multiple decades, breaking out as a member of Bill Monroe‘s band during the 1940s and including multiple solo and collaboration works exclusive […]

Rosie Carter (1958 - 2003)

Rosie Carter was an American singer–songwriter. She was born July 13, 1958, the daughter of June Carter Cash and her second husband Edwin “Rip” Nix, and the stepdaughter of the country singer Johnny Cash. She was married to Philip Adams. Her first name was spelled as both “Rosie” and “Rosey,” according to stepsister Rosanne Cash, […]

Justin Tubb (1933 - 1998)

Justin Tubb was an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was the oldest son of legendary country singer Ernest Tubb, known for popular songs like Blue Eyed Elaine. By 1954 Tubb made it on the country chart with two duets with Goldie Hill—(“Looking Back to See” and “Sure Fire […]

Roy Drusky (1930 - 2004)

Roy Drusky Drusky charted in Cashbox with “Wait and See” and “Our Church Your Wedding” in 1959. In 1960, Drusky finally struck it big. At Decca Records, where he worked with producer Owen Bradley, he released a single called “Another”, which he co-wrote. Bradley was a well-known producer who had led legendary country singer Patsy […]

Lefty Frizzell (1928 - 1975)

Lefty Frizzell Country Singer. With one of the most distinctive voices in country music, his relaxed style was a major influence on musicians such as Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison and Randy Travis. Between 1950 and 1953 he had thirteen hit records, writing and performing songs that have become standards in country music. His […]

Uncle Jimmy Thompson (1970 - 1970)

Uncle Jimmy Thompson In 1925, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company established WSM, the first radio station in Nashville that could reach a regional audience. In September of that year, WSM began airing rural musicians from the Nashville area, namely Humphrey Bate, Sid Harkreader, and Uncle Dave Macon. Realizing the popularity of old-time music, […]

Merle Kilgore (1934 - 2005)

Merle Kilgore The multi-talented Kilgore had a varied career, ranging from huge successes as a songwriter to his most recent role as personal manager for Hank Williams Jr. He was also an artist in his own right, as well as an actor.As a songwriter, he is best known for co-writing Johnny Cash’s 1963 No. 1 […]

AP Carter (1893 - 1960)

AP Carter A.P. Carter is best known for forming the Carter Family band, which combined traditional Appalachian sounds with a unique guitar style and African American gospel influences. A.P. Carter was born to Robert C. Carter and Mollie Arvelle Bays in Maces Springs, Virginia, an area in present-day Hiltons, Virginia, which is known as Poor […]

Hank Snow (1914 - 1999)

Hank Snow The death of country singer Hank Snow marks the passing of a major figure in the history of popular music. Snow, who died December 20 in Nashville at age 85, played a key role in helping transform country music from a localized, largely rural musical style to an internationally popular form. In a […]

Albert DeSalvo (1931 - 1973)

DeSalvo was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to Frank and Charlotte DeSalvo. His father was a violent alcoholic, who at one point knocked out all of his wife’s teeth and bent her fingers back until they broke. DeSalvo tortured animals as a child, and began shoplifting and stealing in early adolescence, frequently crossing paths with the […]