James Clarence Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

music vocalist, and one of the last

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western (genre), Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier. The original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, ...

s. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-

Western movies The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Californi ...

with most of the major studios, appeared on radio and television and even had his own series of comic books. His duet singles with

Margaret Whiting Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American singer of popular music who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard'', January 12, ...

from 1949 until 1951, produced a string of top seven hits, including 1949's number one hit on the US country chart and pop music chart, " Slippin' Around". Wakely owned two

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectua ...

companies in later years, and performed at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

until shortly before his death.

Biography

Early years

Wakely was born in Howard County, Arkansas, but his family moved to Rosedale, Oklahoma by 1920. As a teenager, he changed his surname to Wakely, dropping the second "e".

Country musician

In 1937 in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, he formed The Bell Boys, a country Western singing group, named after their Bell Clothing sponsor. The group performed locally, made some recordings, and did frequent radio broadcasts over Oklahoma City's

WKY WKY (930 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by Cumulus Media. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a sports ...

. Johnny Bond, Dick Reinhart, Scotty Harrell and Jack Cheney were members of the Bell Boys and later groups. During a tour through Oklahoma, the musician and movie star

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

invited Wakely to come to California. Autry felt the group might be a good addition to his new '' Melody Ranch'' radio show, which debuted on CBS in January 1940. The Wakely Trio joined the show in mid-1940. He stayed for a couple of years, then left because of movie commitments and a recording contract with Decca Records that ran from 1941–1942 through 1947. Johnny Bond stayed with the show for most of its run (the show left the air in 1956).

Personal life

Wakely married Dora Inez Miser on December 13, 1935. They had four children: Deanna, Carol, Linda and son Johnny. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1982.

Western movie actor

In 1939, Wakely made his screen debut (with the Jimmy Wakely Trio) in a

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and Rodeo, rodeo performer. Following early work under his given name, first as a c ...

Western, '' Saga of Death Valley''.
In 1941, The Jimmy Wakely Trio appeared in List of Hopalong Cassidy films, Hopalong Cassidy films '' Twilight on the Trail'' and ''Stick to Your Guns'', singing songs such as "Lonesome Guitar", "My Kind of Country", and "Twilight on the Trail". In the 1940s, Wakely groups provided songs and musical support for several B-western movies, including appearances with: *the Range Busters at

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

Don "Red" Barry Don Barry ( Milton Poimboeuf; January 11, 1910 – July 17, 1980), also known as Red Barry, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film '' Adv ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

* Johnny Mack Brown and

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a singer, and an actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s. He was the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John Ritter, grandso ...

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

* Charles Starrett at

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

Wakely made only one film with Autry, ''Heart of the Rio Grande'', at Republic in 1942. He was sometimes referred to as a low-budget Autry in films. His response was, "Everybody reminds somebody of someone else until they are somebody. And I had rather be compared to Gene Autry than anyone else. Through the grace of God and Gene Autry, I got a career." He appeared in 28 Westerns at Monogram between 1944 and 1949. Wakely also appeared in some non-Westerns, including '' I'm from Arkansas'' in 1944, a showcase for country and hillbilly performers who bring their comedy, tunes and yodeling to Pitchfork, Arkansas.

Recording career

About 1941–1942, Decca gave Wakely a recording contract that ran until 1947. After leaving films, he continued to record, switching to the Capitol label. Though most of his songs were country Western, some crossed over to the pop charts, including collaborations with singer

and Karen Chandler, and for the Christmas song "Silver Bells". He had a number one country hit with " One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)", a song originally released by Western singer Eddie Dean.

Comic books

Like other Western film stars of the era, Wakely had his own comic book series.

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

published 18 issues from Sept/Oct 1949–July/Aug 1952, billing him as "Hollywood's Sensational Cowboy Star!"

Radio and television appearances

In addition to Autry's ''Melody Ranch'', Wakely had his own CBS Radio show and TV show. He also co-hosted other programs. He also made several appearances on television variety shows; and in 1961 he was one of five rotating hosts on the NBC-TV program ''

Five Star Jubilee ''Five Star Jubilee'' is an American country music variety show carried by National Broadcasting Company, NBC-TV from March 17–September 22, 1961. The live program, a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ABC-TV's ''Ozark Jubilee, Jubilee USA'', wa ...

''. Beginning September 11, 1950, he had a 30-minute disc jockey program on the ABC radio network. In addition to recorded music, the show featured "homespun humor, philosophy and interviews".

Recording company

In the 1960s and 1970s, Wakely developed Shasta Records and owned two music publishing companies. He converted part of his California ranch into a recording studio, producing recordings for himself as well as for other country Western performers, including

Tex Williams Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held th ...

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...

, Eddie Dean,

and Rex Allen. Wakely created a records by mail system for the Shasta label, becoming extremely successful despite lack of radio play. For his recording work, Wakely has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

on Vine Street.

Later years

Later in life, Wakely performed at the

and ''

National Barn Dance ''National Barn Dance'', broadcast by WLS (AM), WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the ''Grand Ole Opry''. ''National Barn Dance'' also set the stag ...

.'' His nightclub act visited

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

and other venues. He did a Christmas USO Tour with

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

. He made a few recordings on the

Coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

, Decca/Vocalion and Dot labels. He made appearances at Western film nostalgia conventions and continued personal appearances and stage shows, often with his daughter Linda and son Johnny in the act.

Passing

After contracting

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

, Wakely died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

at Mission Hills, California on September 23, 1982. He and his wife, who died in 1997, are interred next to each other in the Court of Remembrance at

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California, United States. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. History The first Fo ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Remembrance

Wakelys Daughter, Linda, wrote a biography about Jimmy Wakely titled "See Ya' Up There, Baby - The Jimmy Wakely Story" The family has established a YouTube channel entitled "The Jimmy Wakely Collection" to preserve and showcase footage and music featuring Jimmy Wakely.

Awards and honors

Wakely was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 1991. He was awarded the "Western Life Achievement Award" by Tex Williams at the Hollywood Bowl, July 30, 1949.

Discography

Albums

Selected singles

Collaborations

Filmography

Movies

This is a partial list of his movie credits, most of them are Westerns: *'' Money, Women and Guns'' (1959) *'' Arrow in the Dust'' (1954) *'' The Marshal's Daughter'' (1953) *'' Lawless Code'' (1949) *'' Roaring Westward'' (1949) *'' Brand of Fear'' (1949) *'' Across the Rio Grande'' (1949) *'' Gun Law Justice'' (1949) *'' Gun Runner'' (1949) *'' Courtin' Trouble'' (1948) *'' Outlaw Brand'' (1948) *'' Silver Trails'' (1948) *'' Cowboy Cavalier'' (1948) *'' Range Renegades'' (1948) *'' Partners of the Sunset'' (1948) *'' The Rangers Ride'' (1948) *'' Oklahoma Blues'' (1948) *'' Song of the Drifter'' (1948) *'' Ridin' Down the Trail'' (1947) *'' Song of the Wasteland'' (1947) *'' Six-Gun Serenade'' (1947) *'' Rainbow Over the Rockies'' (1947) *'' Song of the Sierras'' (1946) *'' Trail to Mexico'' (1946) *'' West of the Alamo'' (1946) *'' Moon Over Montana'' (1946) *'' The Lonesome Trail'' (1945) *'' Riders of the Dawn'' (1945) *'' Saddle Serenade'' (1945) *'' Springtime in Texas'' (1945) *''Montana Plains'' (1945) *'' Rough Ridin' Justice '' (1945) *'' Sagebrush Heroes'' (1945) *''Of the Range'' (1944) *''Git Along Little Pony'' (1944) *'' Saddle Leather Law'' (1944) *''

Song of the Range ''Song of the Range'' is a 1944 American musical Western film directed by Wallace Fox Wallace Fox (March 9, 1895 – June 30, 1958) was an American film director. He directed more than 80 films between 1927 and 1953. He was born in Pur ...

'' (1944) *'' Cyclone Prairie Rangers'' (1944) *'' I'm from Arkansas'' (1944) *'' Cowboy from Lonesome River'' (1944) *'' Swing in the Saddle'' (1944) *'' Sundown Valley'' (1944) *'' Cowboy Canteen'' (1944) *'' Cowboy in the Clouds'' (1943) *'' The Lone Star Trail'' (1943) *'' Robin Hood of the Range'' (1943) *'' Raiders of San Joaquin'' (1943) *'' Cheyenne Roundup'' (1943) *'' Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground'' (1943) *'' The Old Chisholm Trail'' (1942) *'' Strictly in the Groove'' (1942) *'' Little Joe, the Wrangler'' (1942) *'' Deep in the Heart of Texas'' (1942) *'' Come on Danger'' (1942) *'' Heart of the Rio Grande'' (1942) *'' Twilight on the Trail'' (1941) *'' Stick to Your Guns'' (1941) *''Redskins and Redheads'' (1941) *''

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" is a cowboy folk song. Also known as "The Cowboy's Lament", "The Dying Cowboy", "Bury Me Out on the Lone Prairie", and "Oh, Bury Me Not", the song is described as the most famous cowboy ballad. Members of the Wes ...

'' (1941) *'' Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga'' (1941) *'' Pony Post'' (1940) *'' Texas Terrors'' (1940) *'' Give Us Wings'' (1940) *'' The Tulsa Kid'' (1940) *'' Saga of Death Valley'' (1939) *'' Ridin' Down the Trail'' (1939)

Radio

*''The Jimmy Wakely Show'' (1952–1958) *''Melody Ranch'' (1940–1942) *''CBS Hollywood Barn Dance'' (1945–1947)

Television

Wakely appeared as himself on several TV shows including: *''The Jimmy Wakely TV Show''(1950s) *''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' (1950) *'' Toast of the Town'' (1951) *'' Ozark Jubilee'' (ABC, 1956–58, 60) *''Country Hoedown'' (late 1950s, syndicated) sponsored by US Navy Recruiting *''

'' (NBC, 1961) *''Here's Hollywood'' (1961)

References

Bibliography

*Seemann, Charlie (1998). "Jimmy Wakely". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 566.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakely, Jimmy 1914 births 1982 deaths American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American male film actors Singing cowboys Male Western (genre) film actors Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Capitol Records artists Decca Records artists Dot Records artists Shasta Records artists Sterling Records (US) artists Deaths from emphysema Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singer-songwriters People from Howard County, Arkansas 20th-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from Arkansas Guitarists from Arkansas Guitarists from Oklahoma Country musicians from Oklahoma Country musicians from Arkansas 20th-century American male singers