From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Jan 20, 2002  2:20 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Slim Whitman
 
SLIM WHITMAN

Born Otis Dewey Whitman, Jr., 20 January 1924, Tampa, Florida

Country singer / guitarist with a yodeling style. One of the first
crossover artists. Several members of his family were musical and
he became interested in Jimmie Rodgers' recordings when he
discovered that he could also yodel.
Played semi-pro baseball, worked in a shipyard and as a mailman.
Signed with RCA in 1949, but had no hits. Moved to Shreveport and
appeared on the Louisiana Hayride there. Signed with Imperial in 1952.
His second single for the label, "Indian Love Call", was a # 2 country
hit in that same year. The song came from Rudolf Friml's operetta
"Rose Marie". Its title song gave Whitman 11 consecutive weeks at
the top of the UK charts in 1955, an achievement which was only
beaten in 1992 by Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do". The B-side of
"Indian Love Call", "China Doll", was a UK hit in its own right, and
his other chart records include "Cattle Call", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds",
"Serenade" and "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen". After 1957 he
had no further chart hits in the UK (where he is bigger than in his
home country), except "Happy Anniversary" in 1974. In the US he
had 20 country chart hits between 1952 and 1980, but never a # 1.
In the late '70s he was popular in the UK all over again and his
TV-advertised albums (mostly made up of standards and pop songs)
sold well. He continued touring in the UK in the 90s.

CD compilations include a Bear Family box-set ("Rose Marie").
Website: http://personal.riverusers.com/~flash/index.html
Biography: Kenneth L. Gibble, Mr. Songman : The Slim Whitman Story.
Elgin, Illinois : Brethren Press, 1982. (Out of print.)