Slim Whitman dies at 90; listen to the graceful crooner

Slim Whitman, a country pop singer whose forlorn wail influenced a generation of vocalists in the early 1950s, has died at age 90. Whitman, born in Tampa, Fla., was a regular on the influential country radio program “The Louisiana Hayride� starting in 1950, and first hit with an eerie country pop version of the song “Indian Love Call� in 1951. His death Wednesday at a Florida hospital was due to heart failure, said his son-in-law, Roy Beagle.

Discovered by future Elvis Presley manager Col. Tom Parker while Whitman was touring the South, Whitman -- with Parker’s guidance -- landed a record deal with RCA (the same label Presley would record for after leaving Sun Records). Over the next few years, Whitman was a steady presence on the country and pop charts. He successfully crossed over in England, where his song “Rose Marie� hit No. 1 in 1954, and he joined the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1955.

Whitman’s musical style was snuffed with the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, but a few decades later his voice would again reach a mass audience. In the 1970s and early ‘80s, his career was revived by a landmark telemarketing campaign that blanketed the country’s local stations with pitches for “All My Best,� a greatest hits collection.

WALK OF FAME: Slim Whitman’s star

Geared toward the pre-Elvis generation whose baby boomer kids no longer controlled the parents’ stereo, “All My Best� sales soared and drove Whitman in follow-up ads to declare himself to be “The Biggest Selling Record Star in TV Music History!� He also claimed to have sold more albums than the Beatles and Presley combined -- at least 120 million by some accounts.

Whether accurate or not, Whitman was ubiquitous for a few years, and the ads drove a renewed interest in a graceful singer whose style predates the similarly mellifluous Roy Orbison. You can hear that voice, sweet and sad, in “Cool Water� below.