Sykes "Smith" Ballew (January 21, 1902 – May 2, 1984) was an American actor, sophisticated singer,
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
leader, and a western singing star. He also was billed as Buddy Blue, Charles Roberts, and Billy Smith.
Early years
The son of William Young Ballew and his wife, May Elizabeth (Smith) Ballew, he was born in
Palestine, Texas
Palestine ( ) is a city in and the County seat, seat of Anderson County, Texas, Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named after Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker (Baptist), Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that ...
in 1902, where he grew up attending local schools. He attended Sherman High School,
Austin College
Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas. and the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
.
During his time at Austin College, Ballew and his brother, Charlie, formed the Texasjazzers orchestra. Before that, he organized Jimmie's Joys jazz combo at the university, playing banjo and singing with the group.
Career
Starting in the late 1920s, he became one of the most recognizable vocalists on hundreds of dance band and jazz records, based in New York City. During this time, Ballew along with Scrappy Lambert, Dick Robertson, and Chick Bullock were the most prolific studio vocalists. In 1929, he organized the Smith Ballew Orchestra, with a focus on his singing.
Ballew began his singing career on the radio. In the 1930s he became known as one of the earliest of the
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 on the movie screen. His film debut came in ''Palm Springs'' (1936). He did a series of musical Westerns for
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
and one for
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
, continuing in supporting roles until the 1950s. He also dubbed singing for
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...
in ''
The Man from Utah
''The Man from Utah'' is a 1934 pre-Code Monogram Western (genre), Western film starring John Wayne, Polly Ann Young and the stuntman/actor Yakima Canutt. It was written by Lindsley Parsons and directed by Robert N. Bradbury. Wayne has a "singi ...
'' (1934).
Ballew was one of the hosts of old-time radio's '' Shell Chateau''.
Ballew's band's opening theme song was "Tonight There Is Music in the Air"; its closing theme was "Home".
Between 1929 and 1935, he made scores of records issued under his own name for
OKeh
OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...
, the dime store labels (
Banner
A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
,
Domino
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...
Perfect
Perfect commonly refers to:
* Perfection; completeness, and excellence
* Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages
Perfect may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama
* ''Perfect'' (20 ...
, Oriole as Buddy Blue & His Texans or Jack Blue's Texans), Columbia, and
Crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
. Few of these popular records gave any indication of his future Cowboy style.
Death
Ballew died at the age of 82 in
Longview, Texas
Longview is a city in, and county seat of, Gregg County, Texas, United States. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway system, U.S. highways U.S. Route 80, 80 and U.S. Route 259, 259 converge just north of the Sabi ...
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...