Charles Schmid (1942 - 1975)

Charles Schmid was an illegitimate child adopted by Charles and Katharine Schmid, owners and operators of Hillcrest Nursing Home in Tucson, Arizona. He had a difficult relationship with his adoptive father, whom Katharine Schmid later divorced. When Schmid tried to meet his birth mother, she angrily told him never to come back.  He did poorly […]

Donald Leroy Evans (1957 - 1999)

In 1991, Evans was arrested in Louisiana for the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl. He confessed to the killing and led the authorities to the girl’s body. He also confessed to killing more than 70 other people in over 20 different states. Most of the murders and rapes took place at rest stops and public […]

Graham Young (1947 - 1990)

Young was born in Neasden, north west London. His mother died a few months after his birth. He was sent by his father to live with an uncle and aunt, while his older sister went to live with grandparents. A few years later he was separated from his aunt and uncle in order to live […]

Zelda Kaplan (1916 - 2012)

Zelda Kaplan The world of fashion is in mourning after Zelda Kaplan, 95, died after fainting in her front-row seat at a fashion show yesterday. The drama and spectacle surrounding her death almost seems to befit the New York style icon that she was right up to her final breath. Ms Kaplan was known for […]

Casey Johnson (1979 - 2010)

Johnson was born in Florida to Nancy Sale Frey, a socialite and former model, and Robert Wood Johnson IV (“Woody” Johnson), owner of the New York Jets. She was raised in the New York City borough of Manhattan along with her sisters, Daisy and Jaime. She attended the exclusive Chapin, Marymount, and Dwight Schools and […]

Brooke Astor (1902 - 2007)

Brooke was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872–1947), the 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his wife, Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879–1967). Her paternal grandfather John Henry Russell, Sr. was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother (Roberta) and […]

Doris Duke (1912 - 1993)

Duke was the only child of tobacco and hydroelectric power tycoon James Buchanan Duke and his second wife, Nanaline Holt Inman, widow of Dr. William Patterson Inman. At his death in 1925, the elder Duke’s will bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife and daughter, along with $17,000,000, in two separate clauses of […]

Bill Monroe (1911 - 1996)

Bill Monroe Musical pioneer Bill Monroe is known as “the father of bluegrass music.” While Monroe would humbly say, “I’m a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice,” he and His Blue Grass Boys essentially created a new musical genre out of the regional stirrings that also led to the birth of such […]

George Morgan (1924 - 1975)

George Morgan Musician. Born in Waverly, Tennessee, he was a singer-guitarist referred to as the country crooner in the 1950s. In 1948, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry and recorded the song “Candy Kisses” which was a number one hit on the country music Billboard charts in 1949. His other hits included […]

Helen Carter (1927 - 1998)

Helen Carter Country Musician. Born Helen Myrl Carter, she was a member of the country singing group ” Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters”. She performed with her mother Maybelle, sisters Anita and June, later wife to Johhny Cash. She had a professional career in music that spanned 60 years and recorded for such labels […]

Steve Sanders (1952 - 1998)

Steve Sanders Steve Sanders, a baritone who spent a decade with the Oak Ridge Boys after replacing one of country music’s most colorful personalities, died Wednesday. He was 45. The former child star died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police said Sanders’ wife, Janet, told them he shot himself at his […]

Archie Campbell (1914 - 1987)

Archie Campbell Actor, Comedian. This native of Bulls Gap, Tennessee, got his start in 1936 co-hosting a radio show with Roy Acuff on Knoxville station WNOX. After one year he relocated to Chattanooga where he worked in radio until joining the Navy in 1941. He retuned from the service to Knoxville where he helped launch […]

Ira Louvin (1924 - 1965)

Ira Louvin Ira Louvin was born in Section, Alabama and played together with his brother, Charlie, in the close harmony tradition as the Louvin Brothers. They were heavily influenced by the Delmore Brothers and Monroe Brothers. Ira played mandolin with Charlie Monroe, guitar player of the Monroe Brothers in the early 1940s. The Louvin Brothers’ […]

Eddie Rabbitt (1941 - 1998)

Eddie Rabbitt When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt noted that he had “an affinity for animals” and kept the bird for a while before ultimately giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt owned a pet monkey named […]

Otis Blackwell (1931 - 2002)

Otis Blackwell Songwriter. He is best known for writing such classics Rock and Roll songs as “Return To Sender”, “All Shook Up”, and “Great Balls of Fire”. He is credited with writing songs that have sold over 185 million copies. Tracks for Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were most popular, but he also wrote for […]

Goldie Hill (1933 - 2005)

Goldie Hill Hill was soon performing on Louisiana Hayride as part of her brother Tommy’s band. On the show, she was dubbed The Golden Hillbilly, and the name stuck with her for the rest of her career. Louisiana Hayride opened even more doors for Hill, and she soon had a contract with Decca Records. Her […]

Mel Street (1933 - 1978)

Mel Street Street was born in Rowe, Virginia to a coal mining family. Publications cite his year of birth as 1933, although his family maintains that he was born in 1935. He began performing on western Virginia and West Virginia radio shows at the age of sixteen. Street subsequently worked as a radio tower electrician […]

Grant Turner (1912 - 1991)

Grant Turner Grant Turner, a Grand Ole Opry announcer for a half-century, died Saturday of a heart aneurysm. He was 79. As he had for 47 years, Mr. Turner worked the Friday night Opry show. He died six hours later at Saint Thomas Hospital. “He worked every Friday and Saturday night, every weekend, doing what […]

Anita Carter (1933 - 1999)

Anita Carter Born in Maces Spring, Virginia, she scored two Top Ten hits in 1951 with “Down The Trail of Achin’ Hearts” with Hank Snow at No. 2 and “Blue Bird Island” at No. 4. She reached the Top Ten again in 1968 with “I Got You” with Waylon Jennings at No. 4. Other solo […]

Rick Nelson (1940 - 1985)

Rick Nelson Nelson dreaded flying but refused to travel by bus. In May 1985, he decided he needed a private plane and leased a luxurious, fourteen-seat, 1944 Douglas DC-3 that had once belonged to the DuPont family and later to Jerry Lee Lewis. The plane had been plagued by a history of mechanical problems. In […]

Jim Eanes (1923 - 1995)

Jim Eanes Homer Robert Eanes Jnr., 6 December 1923, Mountain Valley, Henry County, Virginia, USA, d. 21 November 1995, Martinsville, Virginia, USA. His early musical interest came from his father, a talented banjo player, who ran a local band. When only six months old, he suffered severe burns to his left hand that left the […]

Floyd Cramer (1933 - 1997)

Floyd Cramer Musician. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was a self-taught pianist renowned as one of the one of the architects of the “Nashville Sound”. In 1955, he moved to Nashville and became one of the most sought after session musicians in town. He played on sessions to include Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Patsy […]

Gus Hardin (1970 - 1996)

Gus Hardin One of the more interesting singers of the 1980s was a female singer who went by the name Gus Hardin. While never a big star, she had one of the more distinctive female voices and enjoyed at least a modicum of recording success. Her voice was hard to describe, although some listeners said […]

Jimmy Wakely (1914 - 1982)

Jimmy Wakely Singer. Born James Clarence Wakely in Mineola, Arkansas, he was a country music entertainer and one of the last vocalists to make it in movies as a singing cowboy. In 1937, he formed The Bell Boys, a country Western singing group which toured and evolved into the Jimmy Wakely Trio and was featured […]

Jimmy Martin (1927 - 2005)

Jimmy Martin Beginning in 1949 Martin was lead vocalist for Bill Monroe‘s “Bluegrass Boys,”. Martin’s high voice mixed with Monroe’s tenor came to be known as the “high lonesome” sound. His influence radically changed Monroe’s music from the fast-paced but smooth style of the “original” 1945 band with Flatt and Scruggs. Martin challenged Monroe to […]

Teddy Wilburn (1931 - 2003)

Teddy Wilburn Country Musiician. With brother Doyle, he made up one of the most succesful brother duos in country music history. They began their careers as children, along with older brothers Lester and Leslie and sister Geraldine, singing on street corners. The Wilburn Family was discovered in 1940 by Roy Acuff who brought them to […]

Doyle Wilburn (1930 - 1982)

Doyle Wilburn Along with brother Teddy, the Wilburn Brothers were one of the most popular country music duos of all time. Beginning their careers as children, along with two older brothers, Leslie and Lester and sister, Geraldine, singing on street corners for tips, the Wilburn Family was discovered by Roy Acuff who brought them to […]

Randolph Scott (1898 - 1987)

Randolph Scott Actor. His film career spanned from 1928 until 1962 and was a leading man for all but his first three years. He is remembered for his roles as a Western hero, as out of his more than 100 film appearances, over 60 were of the Western film genre. Born George Randolph Scott, the […]

Carl Perkins (1932 - 1998)

Carl Perkins Musician. Born Carl Lee Perkins in Tiptonville, Tennessee, he was a rockabilly guitarist, singer, songwriter and a rock music pioneer. He began playing guitar at age 7 and at age 13, he won at a talent show with a song he had written titled “Movie Magg”. In the early 1950s, he formed a […]

Hawkshaw Hawkins (1921 - 1963)

Hawkshaw Hawkins On March 3, 1963, Hawkins, Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas performed at a benefit concert at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas for the family of disc jockey “Cactus” Jack Call, who had died in January after an automobile accident. Among the performers was Billy Walker, who received an […]