2092. John William WAKLEY-WAKELY
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 1083-2LB
2093. Emery Fletcher WAKLEY
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> VC05-FK
2096. James Clarence "Jimmy" WAKELY
Country western singer and actor.
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> VC05-HW
Country western singer and actor.Biography: Jimmy Wakely ranks as one of the best vocalists among the Hollywood singing cowboys. Wakely also had some of the earliest and most successful crossover hits in the post-WWII era. His duets with Pop songstress Margaret Whiting also started a brief trend in pairing Country and popular artists on record. Born poor and raised in Arkansas and Oklahoma, Jimmy learned to love the music of Jimmie Rodgers and then Milton Brown. He developed both piano and guitar skills and sang both in Pop and Country styles. For some time in early adulthood, Wakely operated a service station and worked various part-time musical jobs in and around Oklahoma City. Finally, he landed a position at radio station WKY with the Bell Trio, ultimately composed of Johnny Bond, Scotty Harrell and himself. In May 1940, Wakely, Bond and Dick Reinhart went to California, where they went to work on Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch network radio show in September. Over the next five years, Wakely had some thirty-four sides released on the Decca label, including initial waxings of I Wonder Where You Are Tonight, Cimarron (Roll On), a fine cover of Elton Bitt’s There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere and in 1944, his first record on the Country charts, I’m Sending You Red Roses (Top 3). In the meantime, Wakely appeared in small film roles ranging from backup musician in various cowboy movies, starting with Saga Of Death Valley, in 1939, with Roy Rogers, to a bigger one in Slim Summerville’s low-budget hillbilly comedy I’m From Arkansas. He and his band appeared with Johnny Mack Brown and Charles Starrett as Jimmy Wakely’s Rough Riders and with Brown, William Boyd and Charles Starrett as the Jimmy Wakely Trio (with Johnny Bond and Dick Reinhart. Reinhart left in 1942 and was replaced by Scotty Harrell). These bit parts paved the way for his own starring series at Monogram beginning with Song Of The Range in January 1945. The Wakely Westerns ran to twenty-eight titles and lasted for five years. Former Grand Ole Opry and minstrel comedian Lee "Lasses" White served as sidekick in the first twelve and future Hee Haw funny man Dub Taylor in the remainder. Both critics and Wakely considered Song Of The Sierras, in 1945, his strongest picture. He later believed that a misguided attempt to downplay the music and upgrade the action proved harmful to the series. Still, in the final count, only Autry, Rogers and Ritter starred in more musical westerns. In 1947, Jimmy Wakely switched over to Capitol for his recordings and most of his hits came out on that label. He returned to the Top 10 with Signed, Sealed And Delivered in 1948. He then followed-up with two of the most successful records of the post-war decade. His version of Eddie Dean’s One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart) reached No.1 for 11 weeks out of eight months on the Country chart and crossed over to the Pop Top 10. This was followed to the top by the Floyd Tillman song I Love You So Much It Hurts, which stayed in that position for five weeks and crossed to just below the Top 20 on the Pop lists. He closed the year with the Top 10 single Mine All Mine. His solo hits in 1949 were the Top 10 singles Forever More and Till The End Of The World, the Top 5 release I Wish I Had A Nickel and the flip-side, Someday You’ll Call My Name, which went Top 10. A few months later his cover of Tillman’s Slipping Around, done in duet with Margaret Whiting, spent 17 weeks at the top and become No.1 on the Pop lists as well. The flip-side, Wedding Bells, also went Top 10 on the Country chart and Top 30 on the Pop list. They finished the year with I’ll Never Slip Around Again, which reached the Top 3 on the Country chart and Top 10 Pop. Jimmy’s solo successes in 1950 were Peter Cottontail and Mona Lisa, while his chart duets with Margaret Whiting were the double-sided Top 3 release Broken Down Merry-Go-Round/The Gods Were Angry With Me and the Top 3 Let’s Go To Church (Next Sunday Morning). Their other Top 10 single was A Bushel And A Peck. Jimmy’s final chart singles were in 1951 and were the Top 10 My Heart Cries For You and a composition of his movie fiddler Arthur Smith, Beautiful Brown Eyes, on which he was joined by the Les Baxter Chorus and which went Top 5. Jimmy also had his final successes with Margaret Whiting and they were When You And I Were Young Maggie Blues (Top 10) and I Don’t Want To Be Free (Top 5). Wakely signed with Coral Records in 1953 and in 1955 to its parent label, Decca. Although he had no more major hits, his material continued to do well, especially an excellent album of cowboy songs cut in 1956. Except for a pair of albums for Dot in 1966, he recorded for Decca through 1970. Wakely remained active in personal appearances throughout this period, even developing a fine nightclub act. As his friend Wesley Tuttle once observed, Jimmy had a voice similar to Bing Crosby’s, which made him appealing to a broad audience. From 1952 until 1958, he also had a CBS network radio program, one of the last of its type. In later years, Wakely started his own record company, Shasta. Although he cut some new material, the preserved tapes from his radio programs provided a valuable repository from which to draw. In addition to several of his own albums, Shasta released material by other Western performers including Eddie Dean, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, Johnny Bond, and Merle Travis. Jimmy also did some radio programming for foreign markets in his later years. His son, John Wakely, also had something of a singing career, cutting an album for Decca in 1969. Ivan M. Tribe
Wife of country western singer and actor, Jimmy Wakely
Name Prefix:<NPFX> Mrs.
Wife of country western singer and actor, Jimmy Wakely
2974. Johnny "John" Curtis WAKELY
Wakely, John Unchained Melody/Have You Ever Seen A Man (dj)
Wakely, John Goin' Home/Shelter Of Your Arms (dj)
DECCA 732615 JOHN WAKELY BACK IN THE WORLD
2100. Robert Merwyn WARNER
car accident
car accident
2138. Elmer Howard FREESTONE
Ancestral File Number:<AFN> SB17-XD