Ottis Dewey "Slim" Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013) was an American country music singer and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. Recorded figures show 70 million sales, during a career that spanned more than seven decades. His prolific output included more than 100 albums and around 500 recorded songs; these consisted of country music, contemporary gospel, Broadway show tunes, love songs, and standards. Soon after being signed, in the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley.
Biography
Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. was born in the Oak Park neighborhood of Tampa, Florida on January 20, 1923. He was one of six children born to Ottis Dewey Whitman (1896–1961) and Lucy Whitman ( Mahon; 1903–1987).
Growing up, he liked the country music of Jimmie Rodgers and the songs of Gene Autry. He often sang along with records, but Whitman's early ambitions were to become either a boxer or a professional baseball player.
He served during World War II in the South Pacific with the United States Navy. While aboard ship, he sang and entertained members on board. Liking his contributions, the captain blocked his transfer to another ship. Whitman's life was saved, as the other ship later sank with all hands lost.
Career
Early career
Whitman was a self-taught left-handed guitarist, although he was right-handed. He had lost almost all of the second finger on his left hand in an accident while working at a meat packing plant.
He had returned to Tampa after the war, where he worked odd jobs at a shipyard while developing a musical career. Eventually he performed with bands such as the Variety Rhythm Boys and the Light Crust Doughboys. He was briefly nicknamed The Smiling Starduster after a stint with a group called The Stardusters.
Whitman's first big break came when talent manager "Colonel" Tom Parker heard him singing on the radio and offered to represent him. It sold over one million copies.
Hit recordings
A yodeller, Whitman avoided country music's "down on yer luck, buried in booze" songs, preferring instead to sing laid-back romantic melodies about simple life and love. Critics dubbed his style "countrypolitan", owing to its fusion of country music and a more sophisticated crooning vocal style. Although he recorded many country and western tunes, including hits "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", "Singing Hills", and "The Cattle Call", love and romance songs like "Serenade", "Something Beautiful (to Remember)", and "Keep It a Secret" figured prominently in his repertoire. the song set a record that lasted for 36 years.
(Bryan Adams broke the record in 1991 with "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You".)
In 1956 he became the first-ever country music singer to perform at the London Palladium. He released "Ghost Riders in the Sky" album in 1978.
In 1979, Whitman produced a TV commercial to support Suffolk Marketing's release of a greatest hits compilation titled All My Best. Just for You, also under the Suffolk umbrella, followed in 1980, with a commercial that said Whitman "was number one in England longer than Elvis and The Beatles." The Best followed in 1982, with Whitman concluding his TV marketing with Best Loved Favorites in 1989 and 20 Precious Memories in 1991. Twilight on the Trail, his final release, appeared in 2010, 55 years after his first.
In 1982, Whitman's 20 Golden Greats was certified platinum in Australia.
TV marketing
The TV albums briefly made Whitman a household name in the United States for the first time in his career, resulting in everything from a first-time appearance on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson to Whitman being parodied in a comic skit on Second City Television (SCTV); he was played by Joe Flaherty, as supposedly starring in the Che Guevara-like male lead in a Broadway musical on the life of Indira Gandhi. More importantly, the TV albums gave Whitman a brief resurgence in mainstream country music; he gained new album releases on major labels and a few new singles on the country charts. During this time, he toured Europe and Australia with moderate success.
Popularity in Europe
Although once known as "America's Favorite Folk Singer", Whitman was consistently more popular throughout Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, especially with his covers of pop standards, film songs, love songs, folk tunes, and gospel hymns. or 1990, EMI Australia released his joint album with his son Byron Whitman, titled Magic Moments. In 1998, he released another album with Byron, Traditional Country: The Legendary Slim Whitman with Son Byron Whitman.
In November 1991, after Bryan Adams' single "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" broke the 36-year UK sales record held by Whitman's version of "Rose Marie", Whitman joined Adams on stage at Wembley Arena and sang "Rose Marie" before presenting Adams with a plaque commemorating the achievement.
Whitman's last performance in the UK was at Norwich in October 2002, and in the U.S. in September or October 2003, as he effectively retired from the music business to care for his ailing wife Jerry, returning to the stage only occasionally with one-week series of concerts in Las Vegas. His wife Jerry died in 2009.
In 2010, after eight years in production, Whitman released the album Twilight on the Trail. He was 87 years old. The album featured western standards such as Gene Autry's hit "Back in the Saddle Again" and the television theme song for The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show. Twilight on the Trail was produced by his son Byron Whitman and featured many well-known session musicians, including long-time band member Harold Bradley.
Byron followed his father into music as a performer and producer. He released a number of recordings with his father, and also toured with him on numerous occasions.
From 1957 until his death, Whitman lived with his family at his estate, Woodpecker Paradise, in Middleburg, Florida.
He was a longtime active member and deacon at Jacksonville Church of the Brethren. A biography, Mr. Songman: The Slim Whitman Story, was written by Kenneth L. Gibble and published in 1982 by Brethren Press.
Mistaken obituary and later death
On January 20, 2008, on what was, coincidentally, Whitman's 85th birthday, a premature obituary was published by the Nashville Tennessean newspaper. It was later picked up virally on the newspaper's website. It was believed to have been based on an erroneous report.
Slim Whitman died of heart failure on June 19, 2013, at the age of 90, at Orange Park Medical Center in Orange Park, Florida. He is buried in the Middleburg United Methodist Church Cemetery in Middleburg, Florida, next to his wife.
Legacy
For his contribution to the recording industry, Whitman was celebrated by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.
George Harrison of the Beatles cited Whitman as an early influence: "The first person I ever saw playing a guitar was Slim Whitman, either a photo of him in a magazine or live on television. Guitars were definitely coming in." When a young Paul McCartney purchased his first guitar, the left-handed musician was unsure how to play an instrument that was manufactured and strung for a right-handed player. It was not until McCartney saw a picture of Whitman playing left-handed that he re-strung his guitar so that he too could play left-handed. American pop singer Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists.
The 1996 film Mars Attacks! features Whitman's rendition of "Indian Love Call" as a weapon against Martian invaders (the song causes the Martians' heads to explode).
In 2003, Rob Zombie used Whitman's version of "I Remember You" in his directorial debut in the film House of 1000 Corpses.