Slim Dusty
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David Gordon "Slim Dusty" Kirkpatrick, OBE (June 13, 1927—September 19, 2003) was an iconic Australian country music singer-songwriter. He has sold more than five million albums and singles in Australia.
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[edit] Early life/career
Slim was born in Kempsey, New South Wales, the son of a cattle farmer. He adopted the stage name "Slim Dusty" in 1938 at eleven years of age. His earliest musical influences included Jimmie Rodgers. Slim released his first record in 1945 at the age of nineteen.
[edit] Rise to fame
His 1957 hit "A Pub with No Beer" was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, and the first Australian single to go gold. Over the course of his career, he has collected more gold and platinum albums than any other Australian artist. (The "Pub with No Beer" is a real place, in Taylors Arm, not far from Kempsey where Slim Dusty was born)[citation needed]. In 1959 and 1960 Dutch and German cover versions of the song became number one hits (even evergreens) in Belgium, Austria and Germany, brought by the Flemish country singer-guitarist and amusement park founder Bobbejaan Schoepen.
Dusty not only recorded songs written by himself and other fellow Australian performers, but also recorded classic Australian poems by Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson with new tunes, to call attention to the old 'Bush Ballads.'
In 1970, in the days when Australians still received British honours, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to music.
In 1971 he won Best Single at the Australian Country Music Awards at the Tamworth Country Music Festival (Slim's wife Joy McKean won Song of the Year as writer of the song for which he won best single). In all, he won a record 35 "Golden Guitars" over the years.
Slim Dusty, with wife Joy McKean, were patrons of the National Truck Drivers' Memorial located at Tarcutta, New South Wales.
[edit] Death
When he died of cancer in 2003, he had been working on his 106th album, for EMI Records. The album Columbia Lane - the Last Sessions debuted at number five in the Australian album charts and number one on the country charts on March 8, 2004. It went gold after being on sale for fewer than two weeks.
Columbia Lane is a tribute to the laneway juxtaposed to Parramatta Road in Strathfield (near the railway bridge link), where the EMI studios once stood (now Kennards Hire) and it's where he traversed to crack the national country music market from Kempsey.
[edit] Legacy
- Slim Dusty was best known overseas for his moving rendition of "Waltzing Matilda" at the end of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Closing Ceremony.
- His daughter Anne Kirkpatrick is also an award-winning country singer.
- There is an Urban legend that Slim Dusty was the first artist broadcast from space.
[edit] See also
- Discography of Slim Dusty (incomplete)
[edit] External links
- Official Website (includes a more thorough discography)
