Betty Cody (August 17, 1921 – July 1, 2014) was a Canadian-born

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer. Her notable singles include the 1952

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

releases "Tom Tom Yodel" and "

I Found Out More Than You Ever Knew "I Found Out More Than You Ever Knew (About Him)" is a country and western song written by Cecil Null. Recorded by Betty Cody in 1952, the RCA release reached the top ten on the Billboard Country Chart. It was the answer record An answer song, res ...

", and "Please Throw Away The Glass" released by RCA in 1954. In 1979, Cody was inducted into the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

Country Music Hall Of Fame.

Early years

She was born Rita Francis Coté to Alphonse and Albina Coté in Sherbrooke,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, the sixth of 11 children. When still a child she moved to

Auburn, Maine Auburn is a city in south-central Maine within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities ...

Career

In 1940, Betty Cody married Harold Breau, a musician who performed as Hal Lone Pine. The couple started performing together and she adopted the stage name of Betty Cody. Cody signed a contract with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in the early 1950s. In 1952 she had her hit in the U.S. country charts with "Tom Tom Yodel". Her 1953 hit single "I Found Out More Than You Ever Knew" reached No. 10 on the '' Billboard'' country chart. Slim Andrews, the chair on the board of directors of the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame called her "the number one country singer to ever go out of the state of Maine."

Personal life

After splitting from her husband she gave up her career and worked in a shoe shop in Lewiston, Maine to care for her three younger sons. Betty and Harold eventually divorced. Her eldest son,

Lenny Breau Leonard Harold Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984) was an American-Canadian guitarist. He blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used finger ...

, who had lived with his father, later moved to California. Lenny became a noted jazz guitarist. In 1984, Lenny Breau's dead body was found in a swimming pool. The death was ruled a murder and the case was never solved. Another son, Denny Breau, is also a musician. Cody married, secondly, to George Binette, by which marriage she became stepmother to four children. Binette died in 2002.

Death

Betty Cody died from undisclosed illness on July 1, 2014, at age 92 in Lewiston, Maine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cody, Betty 1921 births 2014 deaths American country singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters American women singers Canadian emigrants to the United States Country musicians from Maine People from Auburn, Maine People from Lewiston, Maine Musicians from Sherbrooke Songwriters from Maine Songwriters from Quebec Writers from Sherbrooke 21st-century American women