… is still alive. (There were rumours of his demise last year, I think; but they were quickly debunked.)
Remember his commercials? ‘Slim Whitman has sold more records in England than The Beatles!’ His Indian Love Call was, apparently, pretty popular. Personally, I couldn’t stand the caterwauling. At least it was deadly to the Martians. Of course if you listen to the instruments and melody, it’s not that much different from, say, Patsy Cline. But the yodeling! Aiyiyiyiyi… I guess that in the '50s Whitman’s music wasn’t so different from everyone else’s, except for the yodeling, and was more accessible. But as a teen in 1979 when the commercials started airing, I was listening to prog-rock, the beginnings of New Wave, and some Punk. I thought the commercials were some sort of joke.
So why bring up Slim Whitman? I was watching a rerun of a Johnny Cash documentary last night, which got me reading Wiki, which eventually lead me to an article on Slim Whitman.
Slim Whitman did not sell more records than the Beatles. His record was that his song “Rose Marie” was #1 on the pop charts eleven weeks in 1955. This was not beaten till 1991.
I knew who Slim Whitman was before most of my peer. Yes, that’s right. I had a book called *“The Book of Gold Records,” which was a compendium of all singles that had sold a million copies, including some bios of some of the artists. In the back, there were some listings of various long-lived chart-toppers in the UK and USA. One of the things that really stood out was “Rose Marie” by Slim Whitman, 11 weeks at #1 in the UK, IIRC.
And, they actually had a short bio of Slim, with a picture of a handsome Clark-Gablish looking chap. Don’t recall much about the bio, but I did remember the artist. It seemed a bit odd to me that a song like “Rose Marie” would be such a hit in the UK, but then, so was “Mull of Kintyre.”
Anyway, a couple of years later, I was driving home. At the time, I had only an AM radio, which I listened to WBT out of Charlotte NC. On my hour-long drive home, the hosts had had a number of calls from people who had seen the commercial about Slim’s “hits,” and wanted to know who he was. The hosts were befuddled. I wanted to call in and say, “I know who he is!”
I arrived home a short time later. My parents had gone to bed already, but what do I see underneath the lampshade? A not jotted down by my father, with the phone number and/or address of how to order Slim’s album!
*Eh, don’t recall the exact title, as it was almost 30 years ago, but that’s close.
God! You just brought up something long forgotten. And with good reason.
That song was released on the CBS label in Germany from the George Baker Selection. Some German soldiers at the radar school at Fort Bliss brought the record to our radio station. Our program director loved it.
I was on that afternoon when he said…“Here. Give this a spin.”
Then we got on the horn with the Columbia rep and told them they had a hit on their hands on THIS side of the Atlantic, too. And it went on to do okay.
That was my one teeny weeny claim of anything. The first DJ in North America to play that song. And then late night in the '80’s Slim Whitman would take that little dream and turn it into a teeth-grinding nightmare!
Oh my God. Slim Whitman commercials on TV were as comon as dandelions when I was attending ISU in the late 70s. As soon as I saw this thread, I started singing: “Una paloma blanca, eyyyye, ayyyye”.
I was looking for one of those commercials but couldn’t find any on youtube. I did find a parody from the period done by local Cleveland movie host SuperHost. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ci_ZhgskZ4
It’s a weak parody. Basically him doing the actual commercial shot for shot, but singing out of tune.
Of course if you listen to the instruments and melody, it’s not that much different from, say, Patsy Cline. But the yodeling! Aiyiyiyiyi… I guess that in the '50s Whitman’s music wasn’t so different from everyone else’s, except for the yodeling, and was more accessible. But as a teen in 1979 when the commercials started airing, I was listening to prog-rock, the beginnings of New Wave, and some Punk. I thought the commercials were some sort of joke.