1923-2013: Country star Slim Whitman of Middleburg has died Read more at Jacksonville: jacksonville/news/metro/2013-06-19/story/1923-2013-country-star-slim-whitman-middleburg-has-died#ixzz2WhmmOI8y Known as “America’s Favorite Folksinger,” Slim Whitman’s songs were marked with his soaring yodel. Mr. Whitman, who has lived in Middleburg for years, is dead at 90. He passed away at 1 a.m. Wednesday at Orange Park Medical Center, family friend Sherry Raymer said. Many remember Mr. Whitman’s yodelling in his 1952 hit “Indian Love Call” as the weapon that killed invading aliens in the 1996 movie “Mars Attacks.” “I’m the one who killed the blasted Martians,” he joked in a 2008 Times-Union interview. But back in 1991, Mr. Whitman told The Associated Press he wanted to be remembered as “a nice guy.” “I don’t think you’ve ever heard anything bad about me, and I’d like to keep it that way,” Mr. Whitman said. “I’d like my son [Byron] to remember me as a good dad. I’d like the people to remember me as having a good voice and a clean suit.” He was a good man who never sang anything suggestive, said Raymer, who also knew him from the Jacksonville Church of the Brethren they attended. He died from heart failure, according to the AP, a bit more than four years after his wife of 67 years, Alma Crist Whitman, died at 84. “They had a great, great marriage and he and Byron used to sing at their church and they were just really wonderful people,” Raymer said. “... There wasn’t anybody like Slim. ... I think he is probably in heaven singing to God right now.” Loren R. Knapp, president of the Slim Whitman Appreciation Society for 26 years, said: “We have just lost one of the classic country music legends of all time, right up there with Hank Williams. I don’t believe he was ever given the status he should have been given.” Ottis Dewey “Slim” Whitman was born on Jan. 20, 1923, in Tampa and worked in a meat-packing plant there at age 13. He met his bride-to-be when her father became his church’s pastor, and they eloped three years later. Returning from World War II, he worked at a Tampa shipyard and joined a band called “The Variety Rhythm Boys.” In 1948 legendary music manager Col. Tom Parker approached him with a contract, joining him to his group of legendary talent that included Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold and one day, Elvis Presley. Signed with RCA, his 1952 recording of “Love Song of the Waterfall” became his first Top 10 country single, followed by “Indian Love Song” hitting No. 2 on the country-western charts. He was very popular in Europe and England, with a No. 1 hit in 1954’s “Rose Marie” and other chart-toppers like 1954’s “Cattle Call” and 1956’s “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” He moved to Middleburg in 1955, calling his Old Jennings Road home “Woodpecker Paradise.” With all his songs, Mr. Whitman “advanced the tradition of country music” by performing pop material in a smooth vocal style, Country Music Hall of Fame senior historian John Rumble said. “He was a pioneer in popularizing country music beyond the boundaries of the United States,” Rumble said. “ ... I have never heard anyone say anything bad about him. Sometimes just being a decent human in whatever profession, especially entertainment, goes a long way and that is worth remembering.” Knapp said the 6-foot-1 singer had a falsetto “that made the hair on your neck stand up.” He said he discovered Mr. Whitman’s music in 1966 and began writing articles for the British appreciation society. Mr. Whitman asked him to start the American society in 1979, and they became friends. Read more at Jacksonville: jacksonville/news/metro/2013-06-19/story/1923-2013-country-star-slim-whitman-middleburg-has-died#ixzz2WhmTIicu
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:52:39 +0000
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