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Vernon
Dalhart
"There
should be music in all our lives. It would take away much of the
grimness and sorrow, and to those of us who have been gifted with
that greatest of all gifts, the singing voice, comes the great duty
of giving what joy our voices may bring to those less fortunate."
Birth
Name: Marion Try Slaughter
Induction
Year: 1970
Date
of Birth: 4/6/1883
Place
of Birth: Jefferson, TX
Date
of Death: 9/14/1948
Place
of Death: Bridgeport, CT |
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Former Occupations:
cow
puncher
hardware
store work
piano
salesman |
Education:
Dallas
Conservatory of Music |
Career Milestones:
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1910--moved
to New York City; did vocal work as paid soloist, studied operatic singing |
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1912--professional
opera debut in a minor role in Puccini's "Girl of the Golden West" |
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1913--won
the leading role in revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta
"H.M.S. Pinafore" by the Century Opera Company |
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1915--name
first appeared in the Edison Diamond disc catalog in June, when it
is believed he cut his first recording for Edison |
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1916--first
major record release (on Columbia Records) in December, "Just a
Word of Sympathy" |
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1917--recorded
"Can't Yo Heah Me Callin', Caroline" on Edison Blue
Amberol in June; believed to be the first Southern dialect song ever recorded |
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1917--first
duet released in September, "Till the Clouds Roll By,"
sung with Kathryn Irving |
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1924--first
recorded "The Wreck of the Old '97" for Edison Recording
Laboratories in May |
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1924--first
recorded "The Prisoner's Song" for Victor, which became
the largest vocal hit up to that time in recording history; first
country record to sell 1 million copies |
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1931--hosted
a network radio show for Barbasol, "Barber Shop Chords,"
with Adelyn Hood |
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1931--toured
England with Adelyne Hood |
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1938--last
recording session on May 1 |
Awards:
1981--Country
Music Hall of Fame induction
1995--Texas
Country Music Hall of Fame induction
Catalog
Highlights
The
Wreck of the Circus Train
A
Rope Around My Picture
Bobby
Hoopy Scoopy
Death
of Floyd Collins
The
Wreck of the Old '97
Prisoner's
Song
Comments:
Advertised
as a voice teacher in the early 1940s; during World War II, Dalhart
served as a guard at a local defense plant; after the war he worked
as a night clerk at the Barnum Hotel in Bridgeport, CT, where he
continued working until his death |