Rusty Draper(1923-2003)
- Soundtrack
Singer Farrell "Rusty" Draper was one of the biggest American singing
stars of the 1950s, pioneering a pop/country crossover sound that
scored him a string of million-selling hit singles. A sometime actor
and radio presenter, he worked at a radio station at Des Moines, Iowa,
where he often filled in for sportscaster--and future U.S.
president--Ronald Reagan. He
established himself on the 1950s music scene with such songs as
"Gambler's Guitar" and "Shifting Whispering Sands". His biggest hit in
the UK was "Mule Skinner Blues" in 1960. Getting his nickname from
because of his shock of thick red hair, he was performing on the radio
in his home state of Missouri at age 12. As a teenager he worked his
way to San Francisco. In 1952 he signed with Mercury Records and the
next year he had a million-seller with "Gambler's Guitar", a song that
reached #6 on both the pop and country charts. Further hits came over
the next 10 years, as well as guest appearances on TV shows
Laramie (1959),
Rawhide (1959) and
77 Sunset Strip (1958). In
the 1980s he suffered severe heart trouble and a mild stroke, and later
he lost his voice to throat cancer. He died in Bellevue, Washington, on
March 28, 2003, at age 80.